The Final Frontier
by SearScare
Summary: Sequel to my 'Mark Of Athena.' The Romans and Greeks have finally decided to work together to stop Gaia. Now, they prepare to sail across a vast ocean, with no idea about what they're up against, especially considering that the problems they face might come from within. The Seven Members of the Prophecy all hold secrets: but will that make or break their voyage?
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: And there you have it, the first chapter of The Final Frontier. It may seem a little slow but that's only because it's the beginning. Don't forget to review!**

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**1) I Learn A Few New Tricks.  
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**Piper**

'Three to one says Pollux nails the Roman!'

Travis Stoll appeared next to me, holding out a handful of gold for Leo to count. I sighed as Leo latched on to the drachmas and began fiddling with pieces of paper trying to find a blank one so that he could write down Travis' bet.

Several other people were attempting to get Leo's attention as well, so that they could place their bets before the new round of sparring began. We –that is both Romans and Greeks– had assembled in the Arena for morning instruction which was supposed to be led by Coach Hedge. What had started out as a way to learn the other demigods' style of battle to build unity and companionship had quickly descended into gladiator like fighting with heavy betting taking place on both sides.

It had been three days since _The Argo II _had landed in Camp Half-Blood and in that time, a _lot _of gold had exchanged hands. Leo, had very smartly, declared himself 'official bookie' and consequently directed most of the betting traffic. I didn't like it one bit, but I was in the minority. Everyone else seemed to get a huge kick out of it.

'Your funeral, Stoll.' Leo shrugged and handed out the pink betting slip. Travis grabbed on to it eagerly and climbed down a few steps to get a good seat so that he could shout encouragement to Pollux as the latter prepared himself to go up against Matthew—a Roman Centurion who fought with a mace. I understood why the odds were against Pollux (who had a round face and was on the heavier side of things compared to Matthew) and wondered why Travis had chosen such a long shot.

'It's a gamble,' Leo agreed when I mentioned it, 'but Travis has good instincts. Besides, I think he's spiked the Roman's breakfast.'

I turned to Leo horrified, 'he wouldn't.'

Leo shrugged, unconcerned, 'with odds of three to one he can make a fortune. I wouldn't put it past him.'

'But that's...' I sputtered, completely disgusted by the fact that Leo didn't care, 'that's cheating! And what if the Romans find out? That isn't going to help things.'

I wasn't just saying it because I didn't approve of the betting. The Romans –not the easiest people to get to know in the first place– had grown more and more suspicious after each fight they lost. They were huddled together now, on the other side of the Arena, clearly prepping Matthew for his big fight. I glanced down at Travis and couldn't miss the crafty grin all over the place. A queasy feeling settled in my stomach as the two demigods entered the ring.

'Okay cupcakes, I want a good, clean bout from both of you!' Coach Hedge tossed his club from side to side, trying very hard to be threatening but failing miserably. Ever since the gambling had started, he'd lost control of the entire process. Now he was as much a spectator as I was.

'Special items are allowed as well as armour,' Hedge continued unnecessarily, 'the first to get knocked down or steps out of the ring three times, loses. No intentional maiming!'

I rolled my eyes at that. Intentional maiming was _all _that happened, despite what the Coach said. He couldn't even intervene during a dirty fight because at five foot zero, he got usually got knocked out by one or both opponents.

'Draw your weapons,' Hedge called, stepping out of the ring, 'and—fight!'

Immediately, the crowd roared. Each side supported whoever they'd put all their money on and I was surprised to see that even with the terrible odds, most of the Greek's had gone with Pollux. Clearly, loyalty was a big thing. That, or Travis had told people about his illegal interference.

The fight started out well—for Matthew. He got in a couple of good blows on Pollux's breastplate and by the first minute had put a solid dent in it. Pollux wasn't nimble enough to avoid the Roman's mace and his usual Greek defence wasn't holding against the Roman's timely offence. Pollux got pushed further and further away from the centre and the Romans went wild as they began to sense victory.

Then, all of a sudden, the tide changed. It happened when Pollux managed to launch a counterattack and of all places chose to throw his hammer into Matthew's stomach. It was an unusual place to attack, especially when Matthew sensed it and tried to step back to soften the blow.

Yet Pollux finished the swing and though it only grazed Matthew's abdomen, it was enough to stop the Roman in his tracks. With a painful gasp, he retreated, clutching his side, his mace dangling uselessly by his side.

'Well done, Travis.' Leo murmured, so only I could hear.

'Won't you lose money?' I asked, as Pollux began to take the offensive, swinging his hammer like a mad man and forcing Matthew to use his shield with both hands, thereby dropping his mace in the process.

Leo grinned, holding out his slips, 'nope. The Romans will have to pay up.'

I blew my cheeks out, deciding to be happy due to the fact that at least there was _some _sort of interaction taking place between the Romans and the Greeks. The Romans had agreed to place their bets through Leo as well, obviously drawn by the idea that he was a centralised authority but also, I suspected, so that they could humiliate him when their champions won.

'Awesome, he's got him now!' Leo said, excitedly.

I turned my attention back to the fight just as Pollux whacked the shield out of Matthew's hands. The Roman cried out as his wrist twisted awkwardly and stumbled backwards, falling into the dust with a loud thump.

Coach Hedge entered the ring hurriedly, waving Pollux off as he bent down to talk to Matthew. While the rules clearly stated that a knockdown or a knockout had to happen three times, each fighter was allowed to surrender if he or she felt they couldn't continue.

Sure enough, Matthew called for surrender, writhing with pain from both his stomach and wrist as his companions helped him out of the Arena. Grinning, Pollux raised his arms in victory to loud applause from the Greeks.

'Disgusting.' Was all I had to say as people swarmed around Leo again, trading in their slips for the money they'd won.

Leo shook his head at me, 'you're way too uptight Beauty Queen. This is for a good cause.'

'No it's not.' I shot back, annoyed by the fact that just because there was no real authority figure present everyone had refused to act responsibly, 'and stop calling me that!'

My displeasure didn't have any effect on Leo. He shrugged and began making the new slips for the next fight.

I leaned back and watched someone –Anthony Webber– enter the Arena and approach Coach Hedge. By the way he walked; I guessed that he'd figured out that the fight between Pollux and Matthew had been fixed. When he began to shout at Hedge, it all but confirmed it. A couple of more Romans joined the argument till Will Solace wandered past and broke it up.

Even though the Romans retreated, Webber looked furious. He grasped the megaphone from Hedge and turned to face us.

'Greeks,' he began dangerously, 'stop hiding behind your unsavoury tactics to win these fights!'

There was a huge roar of protest but Webber didn't back down. 'Fine. Prove to me that you aren't a bunch of spineless cowards!'

About thirty people drew their weapons and a couple of Ares kids actually stepped into the Arena, brandishing their spears. Hedge managed to stop them from jumping Webber. I silently wished he hadn't; I didn't like the Roman one bit. He turned his nose up at everything at Camp Half-Blood as though he was too good for it.

'I challenge any Greek, right here, right now,' Webber called flinging his arm out to show he wasn't afraid, 'to a single bout with me.'

There was absolute silence at that. Webber was patronizing and annoying but he was a brilliant fighter. Nobody was dumb enough to take him on without a little practice.

Then suddenly, a calm voice broke through the ranks. 'I'll take that challenge.'

Heads turned but I didn't have to look to know who it was. I recognized that voice which almost as annoying and patronizing at Webber's: Liam, Son of Demeter.

Liam sauntered through the crowd, smiling easily at everyone who was trying to make him reconsider. 'It's fine,' he nodded to Travis who looked completely stricken. 'Fine,' Liam added when Leo attempted to knock some reason into his head. I didn't say anything as he walked past, half hoping that Webber and Liam would just knock each other out. That way Hedge would call an end to "practice" and I wouldn't have to endure any more of the ridiculousness.

Hedge stopped Liam from entering the ring with his bat, 'you sure about this cupcake?'

A flash of irritation crossed the Son of Demeter's face before he composed himself. 'Very. Let me through.'

Coach Hedge withdrew, muttering darkly.

Liam unslung Barbie Prime from his shoulders and tossed it to an Aphrodite camper –Drew– who promptly simpered with delight. According to Drew; Liam was the "hottest thing to ever walk the earth." Oddly enough, several other girls from a whole range of cabins seemed to share the opinion. Apparently he was "ruggedly handsome" and hid "a deep well of emotional instability." Drew herself had vowed to "fix him" but I personally thought the guy had nothing broken except for the parts of the brain which was supposed to be able to feel humility.

'Let's make this interesting, shall we?' Liam called, pleasantly across to Anthony Webber.

The Roman snorted, 'what do you want to change?'

'Sudden death,' Liam replied, his voice containing just a slight hint of impatience, 'first one to be at the mercy of the other loses.'

'Now hold on a second—' Hedge started forward but Webber waved him off irritably and turned back to Liam, his eyes narrowed calculatingly.

'Fair enough. I put a hundred denarii on me winning.'

'Just enough for him to cover his losses.' Leo filled me in. I raised my eyebrows in surprise. Had he really lost so much money in just three days? Personally I'd never understood the need to gamble but then again I came from a rich family. Plus the Romans probably made it a point of pride to invest so much in their people.

I turned my attention back to the Arena where Liam looked disgusted.

'I don't take Roman currency.' He said, 'I pay and receive only drachmas.'

This time it was Webber's turn to curl his lip in revulsion. 'It seems we are at an impasse.'

I was already half turning to clamp my hand on Leo's mouth because I _knew _what he was going to say but he was too quick for me.

'I'll make the conversion,' he shouted, standing up and waving his hands to draw attention to himself, 'as long as I get a cut, of course.'

Webber looked like he wanted to mull it over a little bit but since Liam had already nodded and was in the process of drawing his weapons, the Roman was forced to accept the arrangement.

I watched with interest as Liam strolled to his corner of the ring, swinging his twin celestial bronze swords in two arcs of deadly destruction While the blades were long, they were thinner than Jason's former sword –Ivlivis– _and _the new sword which Juno had given him. The handles also had plan leather grips which surprised me a little. I figured Liam would want fancy weapons to compliment his huge ego.

Coach Hedge nodded to both his opponents and stepped away from the centre of the ring with undisguised relief. 'You know the rules, cupcakes. No dirty measures and for this one fight—we're playing sudden death. Clear?'

Webber nodded. Liam didn't react.

'Okay then.' Hedge said, backing out of the ring uneasily, 'fight!'

Unlike the previous fight where Matthew and Pollux had gone at it with hammer and tongs, this one started out pretty slowly. Webber had gone traditional Roman and was sporting a spear, a shield, his short sword _and _a dagger (or _pugio _as Jason called it). Adding to that, he wore a feathered helmet and body armour which reached all the way down to his thighs. He had his spear held over his shield and was advancing in a classic defensive manoeuvre.

On the other side of the Arena, Liam was as _non _Greek as you could get—aside from his twin swords. He wore no helmet or armour and was dressed casually: grey shirt, blue jeans and his ever present leather jacket.

'What is _up _with that jacket?' I asked Leo, exasperatedly, 'he wears it everywhere and all the time. Does it not need a wash?'

'Dude.' Leo looked at me as though I was an idiot, 'are you insane? That thing has the best armour ever.'

'Excuse me?'

Leo attention remained focus on the fight. 'Yeah; he let me have a go at it with my hammer. It's undentable.'

I glanced towards the Arena and saw Webber lunge forward, quick as a striking rattlesnake. Liam, caught unprepared, raised one sword to defend himself but he wasn't fast enough. The tip of the spear caught him in the shoulder and though it pushed him backward, the jacket didn't tear. Switching his feet, Liam rolled out of the blow and came at Webber from the left, easily getting in a good whack on the Roman's (protected) side.

Webber wasn't expecting the counterattack and he retreated to renewed cheers from the Greeks.

I turned to Leo, 'where did he get the jacket from?'

Leo looked a little wistful, 'he didn't say. But man, it's amazing. I wish I could make something like that.'

'You can't?' It seemed unbelievable that there was something that Leo couldn't make or fix.

'No.' His shoulders drooped a little, 'I can't figure out the material. It's flexible enough for movement but invulnerable against an attack. And it stores his swords when he isn't using them. I've never seen anything like it.'

I watched Liam and Webber circle each other, more cautious now. Both of them had been exposed and weren't in any hurry to resume their flurry of blows. I stared at the jacket, wondering if the mist was hiding something else but no matter how hard I looked, it remained a black, leather jacket—unremarkable enough to be found at any discounted store.

'It's a gift,' I decided, 'nobody just _finds _things like that. Somebody gave it to him.'

'A pretty expensive gift.' Leo muttered and we both lapsed into silence as the opponents came forward to strike each other again.

Watching the fight, made me feel how inadequate I was with my chosen weapon. I mean, sure, I could wield Katoptris well enough to defend myself (I'd forced Annabeth into giving me lessons every day after Hedge had finished with me) but Webber and Liam were in a different class all together. Usually, when a Greek and Roman and fought each other, they panicked as they were not used to such a dissimilar opponent, which often led to them forgetting their own style. Pollux and Matthew had been a prime example. They'd just swung at each other, descending into primitive forms of offense and defence during the bout.

Liam and Webber however, stuck to what they knew; years and years of experience forcing them to stick to known patterns. Thus it became a classic Greek v/s Roman clash and it allowed me to analyze how well the styles did against each other.

Within a few minutes it became obvious that they held equal advantage against each other. Liam tended to be unpredictable, moving into positions which often defied imagination but on the other hand Webber was solid and resolute and Liam's lightning fast efforts didn't always yield results.

The Greeks caught a break in the fifth minute when Liam sliced Webber's spear in half. The move was all but useless because Webber just drew his sword, and changed tactics, leaving Liam on the wrong foot. The Roman sprang forward, unveiling hitherto unexpected skill with the blade and if Liam hadn't been wearing his jacket, he'd have been cut to pieces.

Just as the seventh minute begun, Liam landed a definitive move and knocked Webber so hard in the jaw that he upset both the helmet _and _a tooth from his jaw. Spitting blood, Webber retreated but Liam pursued him relentlessly, attacking from whichever place he got.

Webber's left arm could barely keep the shield up and then in a move so brilliant (that I had trouble believing it) Liam faked to the right and on the last second, went down on one knee, using the space to hit Webber's sword so hard that it went flying out of his hand.

The Greeks were on their feet, yelling themselves hoarse.

I half expected Webber to just surrender but then he did something I'd never seen a Roman do till then—improvise. Using both hands, Webber pushed his shield out and caught Liam full in the head, throwing him backwards into the mud.

'Oh crap!' Leo groaned, unable to sit still next to me, 'Liam's lost.'

Sure enough, it seemed like the perfect time for Webber to go for the kill. Liam was still sprawled on the ground, recovering from the hit he'd taken but instead of picking up his sword and placing it at Liam's chest, Webber simply retreated with it, waiting for Liam to get up again.

'What the hell is he doing?' Leo looked fairly incredulous.

'I don't—' Suddenly I remembered Reyna's speech of "honour and discipline." Still, unable to process the fact that a _Roman _(especially _Anthony Webber_) could do such a thing, I left out a half-strangled yelp.

'He's doing the honourable thing! He's not going to take advantage of an opponent that's on the ground.'

'That's stupid.' Leo said, decidedly.

'No it's not!' I shot back, 'it's the decent thing to do.'

Whatever Leo was about to say got cut off by the Greek roar that followed Liam getting to his feet. He had a cut above his eyebrow, where the rim of the Roman shield had dug in but otherwise didn't seem to be troubled by anything major.

'Yeah! Go Liam!' Leo yelled, brandishing a wrench he'd unknowingly taken out from his tool-belt.

'Watch it, Repair Boy!' I ducked as the wrench went flying around but Leo ignored me as Liam began to pull out all kinds of hidden moves on Webber. The Roman held on bravely but there was no mistaking the fact that the brief respite he'd given Liam had been tactical mistake, because now the Son of Demeter was up on his feet and roaring for revenge.

The entire Arena was on its feet—yes, even me. The fight was so fast that at time it was impossible to see what was happening. The footwork, the movement, the lunges and sidesteps were all in perfect coordination. For a second, I couldn't help but feel proud of what I was watching. Imagine turning two such demigods against a common enemy—it wouldn't stand a chance.

Just as the fight entered its tenth minute, it happed: the deciding factor. Liam dropped his sword and leaned forward, hooking one foot around Webber's ankle so that the Roman tilted forward dangerously close to losing his balance. I half expected Liam to land a solid uppercut on his bent head to end the fight but what he did was much worse.

Liam kicked up the mud—straight into Webber's face.

Webber flinched, his hands automatically moving to clean his eyes and went down on one knee, dropping his sword in the process. In one efficient move, Liam lifted both his swords and rested them in an X position, right at Webber's throat.

Before anyone could react, Hedge jumped straight into the fray, waving his club with energy. 'And Anthony Webber concedes the sudden death round. Liam wins!'

Leo and the others roared with happiness but I felt sick. The Romans too, were beginning to protest, jumping over the seats so that they could get to their comrade. Greeks, Romans, we'd all seen the same thing but for once it was the Romans who had the right to be outraged. I looked at Liam's self satisfied smirk and controlled the urge to enter the ring myself and punch him right in the face. He'd _cheated; _the jerk had _cheated _to win against an opponent who'd treated him with nothing but respect.

'Enough!' Hedge bellowed, trying to create some order from the chaos. 'Return to your seats, we have to discuss—'

He was cut off, rather rudely, by a furious Centurion Anthony Webber. Webber elbowed him out of the way and stalked right up to Liam, calling out in a voice for all to hear.

'Is this how you win Greek? Through tricks and games? You have no honour!'

Liam turned around, a look of genuine surprise on his face. 'Excuse me?'

'There is a code of conduct on a battlefield!' Webber bellowed, 'one which you violated to serve your own needs! You disgust me!'

Liam chuckled and in the painful silence that followed, chuckled again. '"Code of conduct?"' he repeated as though it was the most ridiculous thing he'd ever heard, 'you Romans are so out of your minds.'

He made to leave again but Webber caught hold of his arm and flung him back around. 'I let you live,' Webber snarled, 'I _respected_ you. You're a coward.'

Liam's easygoing smirk vanished to be replaced by a rather frightening glare. He pushed Webber's arm off, but kept eye contact, refusing to back down. He had such a presence that even the Romans protesting against him shut up so that they could listen to what he had to say.

For a few seconds, Liam stayed silent. Then in a tone which was equal parts mocking and disgusted, he said, 'there is no "code of conduct" on a battlefield. There is no, "victory" or "defeat."' He paused and then leaned forward, emphasising his words, 'there is only survival.'

'And yeah,' he continued facing Webber again, 'you let me live. But that was the stupidest thing I've ever seen because when you're up against Gaia—'

Was it my imagination or did the ground rumble?

'—she isn't going to _care _about "honour" and "respect." She's going to kill you with whatever means possible.' Liam's words seemed to weigh down my heart and in my mind's eye I could see my father –my terrified, mortal father– chained to a rock. No, Gaia certainly didn't play by the rules but did that mean we had to sink to her levels just to defeat her?

'You better get your head out of the clouds, Roman.' Liam snorted, 'this isn't playtime anymore. It's the real deal.'

And with that he whirled away, moving past all the silent demigods staring at him. As I watched him come nearer I swear I saw something –guilt maybe– flash across his eyes, making him look almost vulnerable. He shrugged it off quickly though and kept his face inscrutable. When he caught sight of Leo though, his trademark smirk reappeared.

'Oh and Roman?' He called, turning around again.

The tone was unmistakably contemptuous, practiced no doubt, to rile up the most amount of people in the shortest amount of time. I groaned, knowing that whatever he was about to say was _not _going to have pleasant results.

'I want my hundred drachmas.'

He might as well have lit the fuse to gunpowder. Webber turned purple with rage and he and his fellow Romans shoved their way forward, attempting to get to the Son of Demeter. The Greeks pushed back, obviously trying to protect their "hero" as Coach Hedge attempted to intervene using his club. Fistfights erupted out of nowhere and within seconds it was pretty much every demigod for himself. Hedge was nowhere to be seen—having probably been trampled over by someone.

I sighed and sat down at my place, watching Liam collect Barbie Prime from a simpering Drew and leave the mayhem at the Arena with a rather self-satisfied smile evident on his face.

* * *

The Athena cabin did not look welcoming. Then again, I didn't find any cabin except for mine (and even that I didn't like on some days) as a place I could hang out without being worried about either ruining some in-cabin tradition or setting off a security alarm. While the grey walls attempted to be nondescript, the owl carved on the door seemed to glare fiercely at me as I stepped inside.

SMART boards blinked at me and I had to sidestep a huge table filled with blueprints, _The Argo II _designs and what looked like an automatic pencil sharpener. Several scale models of Leo's ship hung from the ceiling and one entire wall had been dedicated to make its operating system. The Hephaestus and Athena cabins and worked closely over the last six months to get the vessel ready in time and I knew for a fact that Malcolm was in charge of the software which the ship's various systems ran on.

Aside from the slight hum of the SMART boards, the cabin was silent. Everyone was either training or on _The Argo II, _completing the systems' check-up, which due to the ship's size, had to be conducted in phases. Walking further in, I glimpsed Annabeth sitting on her bed and frowning as she examined something –a map, maybe?–with great concentration.

Looking at her expression, I nearly reconsidered my proposal but then she shifted, obviously sensing my presence, and turned to face me, her eyes narrowing with suspicion.

'Umm, hey.' I began, a little unused to being on the receiving end of her glare, 'do you have a minute?'

It was, I thought, watching her appraise me carefully, a very stupid question. Clearly, she was being very busy and had no time for my own childish insecurities. Annabeth set her pencil down and uncrossed her legs from the bunk, standing up. Her face fell back into its usual lines of careful neutrality.

'What's up?'

'Could we extend the training today for a bit?' I said in a rush, 'I have this uncomfortable feeling that I'm going to die because I can't handle Katoptris properly.'

For a moment, I was completely sure Annabeth would burst into laughter but then she smiled, and there was nothing condescending about it. 'Sure. But doesn't Hedge still have the Arena?'

Breathing a sigh of relief, I sat down on one of the closest bunks. 'Nope. The sparring descended into a riot.'

'Again?'

I shrugged, leaning back and trying to get a better angle to figure out what the map showed, 'yeah, Liam's fault.'

Annabeth winced and move around to clear up the mess on her bunk as she retrieved her knife. In one quick movement she unpinned the map and tucked it out of sight. I averted my eyes quickly, struck by an unconfirmed notion that for whatever reason, Annabeth didn't want anyone knowing what she was up to.

Either way, it wasn't any business of mine; even though I couldn't help but think that Annabeth had retreated further into her shell during the last three days. While she'd never been particularly talkative, she'd nearly become a recluse once we'd come back from Camp Jupiter, only appearing to mingle with the general populace at meal times and even then, maintaining a mental distance from everyone—including her cabin-mates. The last part I knew because I'd heard Malcolm complaining about having to make the systems' check on his own.

'Ready?' Annabeth asked, knocking her boot against the metal pole of the bunk beds, a tad impatiently.

'Yeah.' I said hurriedly.

We stepped out into the sunlight together and I forced myself not to dwell on whatever secret Annabeth had. Sure, I hoped it wasn't something deep or dangerous, like Leo's, but at the same time I knew pressing her for answers wasn't the way to go about it.

'So how did the riot start this time?' Annabeth asked, conversationally.

'Liam.' I answered, unable to keep the annoyance I felt for him out of my tone, 'he and Anthony Webber sparred and he beat the Webber by cheating. Needless to say the Romans weren't too thrilled about that.'

'Cheating?'

'Liam kicked mud into Webber's face. Effectively blinded him.'

Annabeth mulled over my words for a bit. 'So Liam won by using unconventional methods.'

I turned to her, surprised by the fact that she didn't seem to be disgusted by what Liam had done. 'He tricked Webber! It was an entirely unfair move!'

Annabeth stopped and surveyed me, her hair nearly blinding me because of the bright sunshine. 'Piper,' she said evenly, 'who won the fight?'

'Liam did,' I conceded, 'but—'

'Supposing this was war,' Annabeth interrupted, 'who do you think would have survived?'

_Survived. _

The same word Liam had used earlier to justify his actions. Maybe there was something wrong with me, but from where I was (metaphorically) standing, I didn't think it was right. Perhaps, knowing that my father got dragged into a war which he should have never even known about had sensitized me in some way—because I knew that some lines shouldn't be crossed. Webber was right about adhering to rules of respect and honour. It was what kept us human and didn't let us become into the things we were attempting to beat.

'In a war,' Annabeth said, when I remained silent, 'it comes down to you and your enemy. And there are only two things you should remember: one, how are you going to defeat it and two, what are you ready to sacrifice.'

Her voice was so full of experience that it nearly made me waver from my stand. Nearly; but not quite. I shook my head resolutely.

'I don't agree.'

Annabeth didn't look upset. A sad smile flitted across her face and she resumed walking, allowing me to fall into step beside her.

'You haven't fought a war yet, Piper—and I'm not saying you're inexperienced,' she added, catching the look on my face, 'I'm just saying you don't know what it feels like. That feeling of dying... it's overwhelming. Liam was just reacting on instinct. You shouldn't be so quick to judge him.'

'I don't like him.' I said, wincing when I realized how childish I sounded.

'Nearly everybody doesn't,' Annabeth agreed as the Arena came into view. 'But he might save your life one day—and that'll be much easier to stomach if you don't hate him so much.'

I laughed, remembering that if there was one thing Annabeth hated more than overprotective boyfriends, it was being indebted to someone else. The fact that Liam had saved her life was probably killing her.

The Arena was mostly empty, with a few scattering of demigods, nearly ten in total, engaged in various activities—mostly talking that is. The Romans were nowhere to be seen; maybe they'd gone off to complain to Chiron? I grinned at the thought. Chiron had been completely unhelpful ever since the construction of _The Argo II _had begun, stating that "Romans and Greeks working together was against the Laws of Nature." I sincerely doubted if he was going to begin interfering now.

'Okay.' Annabeth said, crisply, drawing my attention to an object she was holding—which turned out to be armour, 'for starters, put this on as fast as you can. I'm timing you.'

She threw it at me without another word and I caught hold of it, knowing better than to argue. I'd learned the hard way that when Annabeth taught, she had her own way of doing it and nothing could deter her. Thankfully, I'd practiced with armour frequently enough to not mess up too badly.

'One minute.' Annabeth looked up from her watch as I got the last strap through, 'not bad. Not good either.' She said pointedly when I mimed pumping my fist in the air.

I rolled my eyes and went through the basic drills, making sure to loosen every hamstring I had in my body. Too many times I'd lost fights because of the cramps that popped up unexpectedly. The armour was uncomfortable, but I made myself to not linger on it for now. Maybe I could wrangle Leo into making armour which actually _fit _me since the standard size obviously didn't.

'Bend your knees,' Annabeth instructed, kicking my shin lightly, 'and keep your shoulders straight.'

She grasped my hand and held it out, palm first so that she could push my fingers back, cracking my knuckles in the process. I took a deep breath and rolled my shoulders once more before deciding I was ready.

'Are we just going to spar... or what?' I asked, cautiously as Annabeth took her time watching me stretch.

'I'm going to teach you something new,' she said decisively after a minute, 'take your dagger out.'

Obediently, I withdrew Katoptris and spun it slowly in my hand.

'The technique I'm going to teach you,' Annabeth began, her tone falling into "lecture mode," 'will give you an advantage against people who're bigger than you.'

'Right.' I said, nodding.

'The easiest way to do that of course is to use their body mass against them.' Annabeth said, drawing her knife as well and crouching into her trademark stance, 'so hit me.'

'Sorry?'

She rolled her eyes, 'swipe at me, Piper.'

'Oh.' I tried to remember all the earlier lessons of approaching a target and consciously regulated my breathing. Annabeth waited patiently, unmoving, with her knife held firmly in her right hand, her left held out slightly to one side.

I held her gaze for a moment and then moved forward, trying to be as fast as I could. I flew through the air, my knife a blur in front of my eyes. My legs moved with practiced ease and as my weapon neared Annabeth's collarbone –my intended target– I felt a surge of hope that I was too fast for her to block.

No such luck.

The hilt of her dagger caught mine, and I had to twist my wrist to stop it from getting jarred. Thrown off balance, I moved to the right, trying to improvise but then I felt an arm snake around my shoulder, the grip tightening with each moment. The next second I was in the air, and a rush of dizzying images caught my eye until, _bam, _I was on the ground, blinking spots out of my eyes and barely able to breathe.

After a few seconds, Annabeth's concerned face swam into focus. 'Are you okay?'

I sat up slowly, rubbing the back of my head. 'Fine. Except... ouch, that hurt.'

She offered me her hand and helped me up. Though I felt a little dizzy, I was surprised to find that I could stand perfectly fine on my feet. I looked at Annabeth sharply. 'How hard did you throw me?'

She grinned, 'hard enough.'

I took that to mean that she'd gone easy on me.

'Okay, from a victim's point of view; what do you think I did?' Annabeth asked, back to business as usual.

I ignored the pulsing point on the back of my head and concentrated, trying to piece back together what exactly happened. 'You blocked my attack...' I said, hesitantly, 'and then, you used my momentum to flip me over, right?'

'Very good.' She smiled, 'but remember; this works best for people bigger than you. For example, right now, it was pretty hard for me to flip you over since you're so light.'

'The bigger they are, the harder they fall?' I quipped.

'Exactly.' Annabeth agreed, 'now let's get you to learn it.'

It turned out that the entire move could be divided into three basic steps. First: blocking the attack itself, which also meant anticipating _where _the attack was going to land. Second: converting the attacker's momentum into my strength so I didn't pull a back muscle during the flip. Third: making sure to release the attacker in time so as to get ready for another attack.

'Don't forget to unlock your elbows,' Annabeth cautioned as I practiced on the dummies she was throwing at me, 'you don't want to go down with the person who's trying to kill you.'

'Can't I practice against you?' I huffed as a stray fist of the dummy she'd thrown knocked me in the eye. It was no challenge to execute the move on the lightweight, straw filled sacks and I was really worried my reflexes weren't fast enough to pull off the move on an actual, human, opponent.

Annabeth frowned, 'you'll tear a muscle if you try me. What you need is someone _bigger_, not just taller. And like twenty pounds heavier. Maybe we can find Jake to—'

'Or me.' A cheerful voice interrupted and I saw a shadow of the new arrival on the ground as I straightened up. Grinning –because I recognized the voice– I turned to greet him.

'Hey; how come you're free?'

Percy smiled as he sauntered forward, his green eyes shining with excitement. It was an inside joke we all shared on Jason's and Percy's lack of free time. Since Chiron had refused to help, they'd been forced to shoulder the responsibility for the voyage and consequently they'd been ruff off their feet.

'I ditched Leo and Malcolm. They got into a fight about the upgraded version of the ship's software not being compatible with the hardware.' Percy shrugged, 'I didn't understand a word of it so I left.'

I rolled my eyes, 'you're hopeless.'

'I am,' Percy agreed, 'so I sent Jason to take my place—stop glaring at me like that, you're hurting my feelings!' He added when I scowled at him. As much as it was great to see Percy, I really wished Jason had walked by; I hardly got time to spend with him anymore.

'Fine.' I sighed theatrically, 'I suppose you can help... he can, can't he?' I turned to Annabeth, suddenly realizing that it was probably very bad manners to get myself another teacher without consulting my previous one first.

Annabeth who hadn't said a word during the entire exchange, nodded, though she was very careful to not make eye contact with either of us. 'Sure. Percy fits the bill.'

'Hey; maybe we can show her the other variations as well?' Percy asked, refusing to let his excitement go despite the fact that Annabeth seemed to have switched off all together.

'Yeah... I guess.'

'Cool.' Percy waved me away, 'go take a seat and watch me be amazing.'

'Yes sir.' I mock saluted him, and retreated to the nearest heap of armour and shields. After rooting through them, I finally found one which was halfway comfortable to sit on.

Meanwhile Percy and drawn his sword and was swinging it around, trying to get into rhythm. I took the opportunity to study Annabeth carefully: she was examining the hilt of her dagger very closely in a very obvious attempt to not let herself be engaged in conversation. I frowned, I knew Annabeth didn't make a public deal out of her relationship with Percy bit I figured that after all the trouble she'd gone through to get him back, she'd act a little nicer.

_Or maybe they've had a fight and you know nothing about it_, I reminded myself, _so stop interfering. _

Thankfully, Percy appeared to have finished his warm up. 'You're watching carefully, right?'

'Very.' I assured him, as both he and Annabeth settled into a stance on some silent agreement.

'Okay: so the first variation of the move is the disarming one.' Percy said, 'in case you don't want to kill your opponent just yet.'

He waited a beat to make sure I'd heard and then swung around, already moving in on Annabeth. He was terribly quick but she caught Riptide easily and wrapped an arm around Percy's shoulder, moving to the right to make sure her own arms remained clear. Her left hand, instead of just clamping down on his arm, twisted his wrist and caught Riptide as he let go of it.

The flip was perfectly synchronized and when Percy slammed to the ground he was both bereft of a weapon and quite possibly his consciousness—because Annabeth hadn't seem to take it easy on him as she'd done with me.

Percy sat up, groaning loudly. 'Jeez, now I wish I hadn't volunteered.'

'You should have sent Jason.' I called, once Annabeth made no move to reply, even though the comment was clearly aimed at her.

Percy shot me a grin, accepting his sword from Annabeth before settling into stance again. 'The second variation is to hold your opponent down—in case you need him as a hostage.'

'Hostage?' I repeated, fairly doubtful. 'Why would I need a hostage?'

Percy shrugged, 'just in case.'

I raised my eyebrows but didn't say anything else. Annabeth readied herself again and waited for the strike. Just like before, Percy leaped into action with no indication but Annabeth obviously knew where he was aiming for because she switched her feet and _advanced _towards Percy, forcing him to change which side he was going for.

It was the same thing, except this time, Annabeth flipped him, keeping her arm around her shoulders so that when he fell, she had to go down on one knee as well, snaking herm arm around his throat, suffocating him.

She held him for barely a second and then got up immediately, her eyes tightening with some undefined expression.

'That was brilliant!' I told her, but she shrugged it off, twirling her knife again. I glanced back at Percy, half hoping he hadn't noticed but once again my luck refused to cooperate. His eyes were following Annabeth and from the way his mouth pressed into a thin line, I knew he was trying to stop himself from saying something.

'The third variation,' Percy said, considerably less enthusiastic now, 'is the one you need if you're going for the kill. Direct contact and very hard to dodge.'

_Kill. _The word echoed in my mind. Could I kill someone? Did I have it in me to kill someone? It was no secret that Gaia was using mortals and dead demigods –or well alive ones now, since the Doors of Death were open– to do her bidding. They would, most definitely be a threat so I would encounter them at some point. And unlike monsters and the Earthborn they wouldn't just disintegrate. They would actually _die _if I stuck a knife thorough them.

Percy jumped at Annabeth for the third time, distracting me from my thoughts and I watched the same move executed. The change –though minute– happened in the last step and unlike the previous two times, (where she hadn't used her weapon for anything except to block the first attack) Annabeth turned her hand so that she could bring the point of her knife to Percy's neck as she leaned over him, breathing heavily.

'And if I didn't have my Curse,' Percy winked at me from the ground, 'I'd be dead by now.'

I opened my mouth to counter with something but Annabeth gasped as though she'd just been stabbed. She dropped her knife to one side and turned absolutely white; her eyes wide open with undisguised terror.

I was on my feet immediately, 'What's wrong? What happened?'

She couldn't seem to form words. She opened her mouth and closed it again, her breaths sounding more hollow than the last. Percy sat up, his eyes drawn with familiar worry and he reached for her hand.

'Annabeth?' He asked gently, though I could hear the anxious undertone clearly, 'did you hurt yourself? Did the wound reopen?'

His voice seemed to bring her out of the daze and for a second she leaned into him, accepting the comfort he was offering. Her arms wound him and then she froze, backtracking at once.

'I have to—' She stopped, fighting for composure, 'I have to go... do some things.'

'Go?' I repeated, 'but we just started.'

'Yeah, I'm really sorry Piper...' Genuine regret crossed her face as she stood up, collecting her knife, 'but I have to,' she paused and blinked, steadying herself, 'I have to leave... you can take it from here, right?'

The last part Annabeth directed at Percy even though she barely met his gaze, choosing instead to speak to a spot somewhere above his left shoulder.

'Uh... sure.' Percy said, after a moment.

'Thanks.'

She was heading away even before she'd said the words properly. I watched her hurry back, unease twisting my stomach into knots. What was going on? What secret was Annabeth keeping that she couldn't even confide in Percy?

'Did I do something wrong?' Percy asked quietly.

'What?' I glanced at him, puzzled, 'no—I mean, I don't think so.'

He sighed in frustration. 'Then what just happened?'

'I don't know.' I said, a tad untruthfully because I _did _know that something was bothering her deeply. 'Did you guys have a fight?'

'No.' He responded immediately and then his eyebrows scrunched together in confusion, 'at least I don't _think _we did but I never know with her, you know?'

I bit my lip, stopping myself from saying anything. I was not supposed to interfere, especially not in people's relationships. My mother had showed me how easy it was to manipulate people by giving me the ability to charmspeak and I sure as hell wasn't going to take advantage of the fact that Percy was clueless about his girlfriend's mood swing.

'What do you think?' He asked, finally.

I tensed. No other way but to come right out and say it. 'I don't think we should discuss Annabeth. You and me I mean—it's uh, it's not a smart thing to do.'

Percy seemed a little surprised but he shrugged, letting it pass. 'Okay. Yeah, that's fine. It's probably the stress or something.'

'Yeah,' I said, not for one moment believing that he believed his own words, 'yeah it's probably the stress.'

He didn't say anything for a moment but then stood up, brushing the dirt off his clothes. 'C'mon,' he said at last, 'I don't want her mad at me because I didn't follow through on teaching you.'

We both knew it was a lame attempt but I got to my feet anyway, trying my best not to think about Annabeth and failing miserably. I couldn't shake the gut feeling that something had happened to her in the past three days, something which could make things _very _difficult for the upcoming quest.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: So I'm trying my hand with long chapters, mostly because I don't think there's any point in putting up a story with a million chapters with only a thousand words each. And well, I like lots of things happening to one person before I move on to the next.**

**Tell me if you like it or hate it. (Which is a subtle way of saying do review!)**

**Also; I think I need some professional help with the story covers for both this and the 'Mark of Athena.' If anyone's interested (actually, please, someone be interested) please contact me.**

* * *

**2) I Visit A Few Friends.**

**Percy**

I spent an hour trying my best to help Piper practice with her dagger. She was good –very good– and I found myself enjoying the energy of sparring more than I'd ever done in a while. In between getting chucked across the country, freeing Thanatos and acquiring the Curse of Achilles, I'd had very little time to just... practice.

And honestly, I missed it.

'Tap out,' Piper struggled against my arm which held her in a headlock, 'can't— breathe.'

'Sorry.' I let go at once, reminding myself to revaluate the limits of my strength now that I had the Curse to contend with.

Piper rolled her shoulders and faced me, holding out her dagger. 'Once more—I think I know what to do.'

I couldn't help but grin, 'are you sure? Aphrodite girls are allowed to wimp out.'

Her eyes narrowed dangerously, 'take it back, Jackson.'

'Or what?' I knew it was a stupid move to bait her but I couldn't help it.

'Or I'll charmspeak you to into running around naked.'

_Okay, _I thought to myself, slightly scared, _that is a legitimate threat. _

'You know that's called cheating.' I protested, already imagining the catcalls and cheers that would follow me if I showed off my birthday suit to everyone. Especially the Romans. They'd probably videotape it and e-mail it over to Reyna. And then she'd probably change her mind and decide that I wasn't responsible enough to lead forty demigods to Rome.

'It's called playing to my strengths.' Piper countered and then jumped forward, swinging her knife and catching me completely unprepared.

It took her three seconds to disarm me but because of my sheer size, I still held the advantage. I dived at her legs and brought her crashing to the ground, ignoring her knife scraping rather uselessly against my skin.

'_This _is cheating,' Piper said, attempting to whack me over the head with the hilt of her blade, 'c'mon, we need to have rules against this!'

Despite myself, I began to laugh. Sensing the opportunity to take the lead, Piper pushed me off and tried to use a surrendering technique on me. Unfortunately for her, the person she'd learned it from was someone I'd been sparring with for years. I broke her grip easily and vaulted around, pinning her arms behind her back.

'Aaand... I win.' I announced, with considerable glee.

Piper rolled her eyes at me over her shoulder. 'You know I can still charmspeak you, right?'

I opened my mouth to retort but a shadow fell over both of us and I looked up to find that Jason had arrived silently on the scene. Judging by the frown on his face; he wasn't in the best of moods.

'Hey.' I said, releasing Piper and standing up, wiping the sweat off my forehead, 'aren't you supposed to be on the ship?'

'I sorted it out.' Jason said slowly, glancing from Piper to me with distinct suspicion. 'What are you guys doing?'

'Practicing.' Piper said reassuringly, obviously understanding what Jason was _really _asking about, 'Percy volunteered to teach me a few things.'

'Okay.' Jason said, taking a deep breath, 'okay.'

We stood awkwardly in silence and I made a mental note to not get tricked into teaching Piper how to spar again. There were far too many complications involved and, after everything I'd been through with Octavian, I didn't want Jason turning on me as well.

'So,' I prompted after the air had thickened with enough tension, 'you here for something?'

After a moment of scrutinizing the ground, Jason nodded. 'Yeah—you're needed at the Big House.'

'Why?'

Jason suddenly didn't look uncomfortable about the situation he'd walked into. He looked downright serious. 'Clarisse's back—'

'She is?' I'd never, in all my years at Camp, been happier to hear that Clarisse was back at Camp Half-Blood. Jason and I had been postponing selecting the Greek half of _The Argo II _ever since we'd come back, deciding to wait for Clarisse to come back to Camp since her experience would be invaluable in picking fighters. Chiron had mentioned vaguely that she'd been "back soon" in his usual helpful way.

'—but there's a complication.' Jason finished uneasily, effecting ruining my flash of happiness.

'What complication?' Piper wanted to know, pulling her hair back so that she could tie it up.

Jason's eyes glazed over a little and I couldn't help but roll _my _eyes. Then I remembered that I reacted the same way when I was around Annabeth so I decided to cut him some slack.

'Uh, I dunno actually.' Jason admitted once he'd got his head working again, 'Will just told me to get to the Big House and to get you,' he nodded at me, 'along.'

'Why does this not sound good?' I muttered darkly.

Jason looked similarly displeased. 'Tell me about it. We can't seem to catch a break.'

'Maybe you guys should go check out what the problem before jumping to conclusions.' Piper said rather practically, 'go on. You've taught me enough for a day.'

'Right.' I shoved Riptide back into my pocket and turned to Jason. 'Let's go.'

He looked at Piper and I swear I saw the guy's shoulders slump. 'Right now?'

'Unless you have something else you'd rather do.' I said a little nastily. I didn't get Jason Grace. First he spent all his time avoiding Piper and then when he accidentally bumped into her he couldn't seem to wrench himself away. Couldn't he just decide on one mode of interaction and stick to it?

'No... no.' Jason stammered, making Piper blush a little. 'Yeah, let's go.'

'Bye.' I waved at Piper and started off at a brisk pace towards the Big House. Jason fell into step beside me and neither of us started a conversation. I was busy stressing out over whatever "complication" was waiting for me. Adding to that, was Annabeth's behaviour which no matter what I'd said to Piper, I was not cool about. If only I had someone to talk to about it to...

'Uh, Percy?' Jason said suddenly.

'Yeah?' I wasn't really paying attention to him, concerned as I was about Annabeth and so what he said next came as a bit of a shock to me.

'You don't have a thing for Piper, do you?'

I ground to a halt. 'Excuse me?'

Jason looked a little uncomfortable but his gaze was steady. 'Piper. Do you like her?'

'Of course I like her.' I said immediately, and then took a second to read his rather outraged expression to see what he was really driving at. 'Oh. _Oh. _You mean—yeah, no. I don't.'

'You're sure?'

'_Yes_, I'm sure.' I said exasperatedly. 'I'm with Annabeth, remember?'

'You can be with someone and love someone else.' Jason countered and then looked away as though he regretted the words. I stared at him and several pieces clicked into place. Admittedly, I'm not the smartest guys but even I can connect the dots when they're left numbered for me.

'Is this what it's about?' I asked finally, 'you like Reyna and Piper and you can't decide?'

Jason looked at me, defiance flaring bright in his eyes. 'Hey, I haven't promised either of them _anything—_'

'Yeah, okay, cool.' I interrupted, not really wanting to get into it all. What with Hazel being unable to choose between Leo and Frank, I'd had enough of love triangles for a while. 'I'm not judging you—and frankly, I don't really care who you choose.'

Jason opened his mouth and then closed it again, unable to say anything.

'So can we please concentrate on the stuff that matters?' I asked, pushing away the guilt which had erupted inside me for being so mean. Part of my irritation stemmed from the fact that Jason had two pretty amazing girls after him and all he had to do was make a simple choice. Me on the other hand, I was head over heels for a girl who was now barely acknowledging my presence. How was that for fair?

'Okay.' Jason sighed dejectedly, 'yeah, I can do that.'

'Thank you.' I said and resumed walking.

We didn't speak the rest of the way to the Big House.

* * *

'Percy.' Chiron greeted me warmly as I climbed up the steps to the front porch. The first day I'd gotten back we'd gotten into a huge argument because Chiron had basically washed his hands off the entire quest. Ever since then I'd kept my distance but now seeing the genuine affection for me glitter in his eyes, I realized that he wasn't to be blamed for being unhelpful. He was simply bound by an oath he couldn't break.

That thawed me a little. 'Hey, Chiron. Where's Clarisse?'

Chiron sighed heavily and leaned back in his wheelchair. 'Before I answer that, there is something you should know first.'

Jason came up behind me, stomping his feet loudly on the wooden floor. 'Will told me there was a complication.'

Chiron's expression was bleak. 'That is correct. Unfortunately, Clarisse was in an accident on her way to Camp.'

'Accident?' I repeated, my stomach twisting into knots with worry. 'What kind of accident?'

'A ten car pileup on the freeway.' Chiron said sombrely, 'she's suffered some grievous injuries.'

I met Jason's gaze and he mouthed _told you so _at me behind Chiron's back. I tried to imagine how badly a pileup would damage the human body but the only references I had were the movies I'd seen and in that the heroes always managed to get out with shallow cuts and a few bruises.

'Her mother managed to bring Clarisse to Camp in time,' Chiron continued, allowing my hopes to rise, 'and thankfully, we were able to administer the medicine to save her life.'

'Save her life?' I yelped.

'Wait; how long has she been in Camp?' Jason asked at the same time.

I raised my eyebrow at Jason. Seriously; was that the most important question to be asked? He shrugged back, indifferently.

Chiron fiddled his beard. 'She arrived early this morning.'

'Why weren't we told till now?' Jason demanded. I shot him a look but he ignored me, his tone turning frustrated. 'I mean honestly; are you _trying _to sabotage this quest?'

'Hey.' I said, aghast. We'd all had our own disagreements with Chiron over the last few days but that didn't mean Jason could insult a thousand year old centaur because he was feeling cranky, 'that's not cool.'

'It's all right, child.' Chiron sighed and then turned to Jason, his eyes betraying just the slightest bit of emotion, 'you accuse me of sabotage, and rightly so Jason Grace—but know that these children have been with me for years. I would do anything to help them, if it were within my power.'

Jason didn't say anything, choosing instead to scowl at the floorboards.

'Clarisse has asked to see both of you separately,' Chiron said after a few seconds of strained silence has passed, 'I advised her to rest but... she is difficult to reason with.'

I couldn't help but grin. Sure I knew what Clarisse was like. Unreasonably stubborn would be the perfect words to describe her.

'She's waiting for you in the infirmary.' Chiron finished, examining his hands which were resting in his lap. A sign of dismissal. Clearly he couldn't risk any more time helping us. I looked at Jason and he jerked his head to one side, indicating me to join him at the other side of the porch. Sighing, I gave in to his demands and shuffled to the railing, at his side.

'This is ridiculous.' Jason began heatedly.

'Shut up—he'll hear you.' I muttered, glancing back at Chiron who was staring out over the strawberry fields an expression of immeasurable sadness etched on his face.

'I don't care.' Jason argued, 'seriously, Clarisse just _happened _to get into an accident when we need her most?'

I flashed back to what Chiron had told me years ago. A demigod was always exposed to dangers from both the mortal and immortal world. That's what made their lives so dangerous. That's also what made their lives so influential. Did I believe Clarisse's accident was in fact not an accident? Honestly; my opinion could go either way. Right now I had to deal with the fact that I'd just lost my best fighter.

'Look,' I said evenly, 'even if it's not an accident, we can't do anything about it. Let it go.'

Jason didn't look anywhere near letting it go. His eyes narrowed suspiciously at Chiron. 'He's been blocking all our moves. All he does is sit there and refuse to help us.'

I stared at Jason. What the hell was his problem? And because my day hadn't started with the best of encounters, I found myself getting angry even though the whole matter was so ridiculous I should've just laughed it off.

'He's not just _sitting _there refusing to help us.' I said through gritted teeth, 'he's sitting there and fighting with himself—trying to look for a way, _any _way to work around his oath. So grow up and stop blaming him for your problems.'

Jason reared back in surprise. '_My _problems?'

'Yeah.' I said, not caring if Chiron heard me, 'you have serious trust issues. Get over them.'

Jason looked as though I'd hit him between the eyes with a hammer. For a second I was worried that he was going to collapse because he went absolutely white and his blue eyes darted around like a cornered animal. His breathing took off and I reached forward, hoping to grasp his arm before he fell.

My touch electrocuted him back to his senses. He brushed me off hastily and steadied himself on the railing. 'What are you doing?'

'You looked like you were going to faint.' I responded and glanced over to where Chiron was still sitting. Was I supposed to call for assistance? 'Are you okay?'

'I'm fine.' Jason said brusquely. 'Just go talk to Clarisse will you? I need some air.'

I didn't want to leave him alone—especially when Chiron was right there; sitting alone and vulnerable as he wrestled with a decision he knew he couldn't make. And an angry and defensive Jason Grace was worse than an annoying Liam. It just had to be my fate to be stuck with the two of them... _together. _

'Fine.' I said reluctantly, 'just don't say anything to anyone okay?'

'Whatever.' Jason muttered and turned away, ignoring me completely.

I waited a moment, taking the time to calm myself down because it was no use visiting Clarisse –a sick, and grievously injured Clarisse, but Clarisse nonetheless– with a temper. We'd probably just get into a major fight and _that _would solve absolutely nothing.

After a minute of retying my shoelaces with the utmost of concentration, I breathed out and entered the Big House, aiming my steps towards the infirmary.

* * *

The infirmary had been converted into a fully functional ER unit. There were those complicated monitors, which showcased lots and lots of meaningless information, a table full of medical supplies and a tray of shiny, hardcore surgical devices.

I was so startled; I nearly missed Clarisse in her full body bind cast.

A word about those casts, since chances are, you've never seen one in your life. Despite what you might see in modern day cinema, there is absolutely nothing amusing about them. Clarisse was so banged up that for a moment, I was afraid that even whispering over her might make her heart stop beating. Her face (the only part which wasn't covered) was a curious mixture of multicoloured bruises. The right side was swollen terribly as though her cheekbone had been smashed.

'Prissy?' Clarisse's voice, though rough with pain was the same mix of mocking and annoyance. 'Come to sympathize at my bedside?'

'No.' I said immediately and moved over to where a chair had been dragged up, near her head. 'I heard you wanted to talk to me.'

Her ragged breathing filled the room, drowning out the various beeps from the machines surrounding her. Next to the chair which I'd sat on, was a stand from which hung an IV-bag of a honey coloured liquid. The tube trailed all the way down and then curved upwards, disappearing into the covers.

'Intravenous nectar?' I asked, suddenly amused, 'whose idea was that?'

Clarisse glared at me. 'Will Solace. That idiot managed to convince Chiron that I needed it.'

'Can't imagine why.' I said easily, 'you look as though you could actually beat me in a fight.'

'I always beat you.' She huffed and then her eyes widened comically, as though she'd just remembered something. 'You have your memory back.'

It was a statement, not a question but I nodded anyway. 'Yeah. Took a while but I got there in the end.'

Clarisse stared at me for a few moments, digesting the news. 'Good,' she said finally as though I'd passed some test of hers, 'you caused Annabeth enough misery without having to add to it.'

A few seconds of painful seconds followed sentence.

'What d'you mean?' I asked, once I found my voice again, 'did she say something to you?'

'She didn't _have _to say anything.' Clarisse said pointedly, 'it was pretty obvious. And,' she added with a touch of relish, 'I don't know how she put up with it. I would've given up.'

I felt the air evaporate from my lungs. Little shards of glass poked at my insides. Was _that _what was happening now? Had Annabeth decided I wasn't worth wasting six months of her life over? The little optimistic voice inside my head told me to get a life. She'd come to find me. She'd gone on a _quest _with me—where she'd nearly died, but I didn't have to think about that. If she'd had a problem she would've told me earlier. Annabeth wasn't one to play games.

'Anyway,' Clarisse said, drawing me out of my head, 'I didn't call you up here to see your ugly face.'

'Go on.' I said mechanically, not really paying attention. I was reliving the moment I'd hugged in Annabeth Camp Jupiter in mind's eye. Had she flinched away? Had there been disgust on her face? I gritted my teeth; why couldn't I remember?

'Obviously, I'm not going to be able to come with you and Jason to Greece.'

I blinked, trying to focus on Clarisse's words but I couldn't seem to stop myself from panicking.

'Stupid car...' Clarisse grumbled more to herself than me, 'it should've gotten out of my way.'

I couldn't agree more. I didn't need an invalid. I needed a healthy, stubborn annoyed Clarisse pacing around so that I didn't have to waste more time by her sick bed. My palms had turned sweaty when I thought about Annabeth breaking up with me.

'Since I can't come,' Clarisse continued, oblivious to the fact that I was having a mental breakdown next to her, 'I need a favour.'

_That _got me out of the daze I'd descended into. Raising an eyebrow, I stared at her bruised face. Even though most of it was swollen/smashed to bits, her eyes were perfectly fine. And they were looking at me with deadly seriousness.

'I'm sorry,' I said slowly, 'but I think I heard you just ask me for a _favour._'

'Shut up, Jackson.' Clarisse muttered, her mouth settling into a grimace, 'I wouldn't ask if I didn't have to.'

That much, at least was true. Sighing, I settled back in my chair and watched the nectar drip slowly into the tube. It was rather hypnotic and for a second I thought about Chiron downstairs. He was doing the same thing I was—agonizing over something that he had no control over.

'What's the favour?' I asked, quietly, no longer finding it in myself to joke around with the broken pile of bones next to me.

Clarisse sighed and her eyes flitted away from me, settling on the ceiling. 'I want you to take Mark and Sherman with you on your quest.'

'Mark and—_why?_' For the life of me I couldn't figure out why she's just signed up her two oldest brothers to –what was most assuredly– a death penalty. Unlike the Romans who'd viewed the whole thing as some sort of gung ho "prove my mettle" test, I knew the Greeks weren't going to be easily fooled. Unlike Jason, I was pretty sure we couldn't just _choose _the Greek half of the crew. We would have to ask for volunteers.

'I know what you're thinking.' Clarisse said and her voice cracked slightly with the strain. I glanced at the heart monitor, there was a single spike on the graph—though what that meant I had no idea.

'I'm thinking that you're high on whatever they've put into your system.' I said, half worried that she was going to go into cardiac arrest. Wasn't that what happened during dramatic moments? People usually died before saying all the important things?

Clarisse frowned, 'this isn't a joke.'

'No it isn't.' I agreed, 'you want to sign your brothers up on a suicide mission.'

'I was going to sign up for the suicide mission myself.' She sounded frustrated and her monitors beeped again warningly at me.

'Okay—fine.' I conceded, more to stop aggravating her than actually agreeing to her point, 'but why do you want them, specifically, to come?'

Clarisse took her time answering and I examined her casts because I had nothing to do. They were all of those heavy duty, off white ones and though I felt bucket loads of sympathy for her, all I could really think about was how she was going to bathe herself. Were there standard procedures for it or would Chiron have to invent some magical device?

'You need someone to watch your back.' Clarisse said suddenly, 'with these Romans around—you need good, loyal, soldiers. My brothers may be annoying but they'll listen to you. They've got your back.'

It was a solid argument. Not persuasive, not deceptive, not bordering on favouritism. If I could choose the crew –without the fear of somebody backing out– then yes, both Mark and Sherman would be on the list. And besides, I did need somebody as annoying and stubborn and just colossal as Clarisse so who better than her own brothers?

'Fine, I'll take them along,' I said, watching her eyes light up with muted joy, 'but only if they want to come. I'm not forcing them into anything.'

'Oh, they'll want to come.' Clarisse said with quiet assurance.

'And you aren't forcing them either!' I said loudly but she simply grinned. Or grimaced since her jaw wasn't really fixed properly. She held my gaze for a moment and under the shine of victory I saw the locked frustration, struggling to get out. I understood where it was coming from: she was sending her brothers (who might have not been the best siblings, but still counted as family) to take her place on a scary quest while she remained confined to a bed. It was enough to drive anyone crazy.

'You're going to be fine.' I said, impulsively laying down a hand on one of her (wrapped) arms.

'Of course I'm going to be fine.' Clarisse grumbled, 'now go away—you've annoyed me enough.'

I grinned and got up, knowing she didn't want me to stick around any longer.

'One last thing—aside from sending Jason in,' Clarisse called, when I was at the door.

'Yeah?' I didn't bother turning around. She couldn't see me anyway.

'If you find Chris tell him I want a doughnut for lunch. No matter what Chiron says against it.'

I chuckled and glanced at the chair I'd just vacated. Only Chris Rodriguez would have the patience to deal with a bedridden, fire breathing Clarisse. He probably deserved a medal for it.

'Sure thing.' I said and closed the door softly behind me. The stairs creaked as I went down them, sending up plumes of dust from the corners. Coughing, I arrived at the front porch coughing, glad to be out of the stifling darkness of the infirmary.

Jason was pacing up and down the, completely ignoring Chiron who hadn't moved from the place I'd left him in.

'She wants to see you.' I told Jason as he came to a halt and looked at me questioningly.

'How bad is she?' He wanted to know, his blue eyes reflecting worry—for whom I didn't know. Was he worried about Clarisse or about our diminished chances of succeeding now that one our main crew members was out of commission?

'Pretty banged up.' I admitted, 'I doubt she's moving from there in anything less than a month.'

Jason cursed under his breath in Latin, which I found rather amusing. After venting his frustration to the floorboard, he looked up and brushed the hair out of his eyes. 'I better go see what she wants.'

'Have fun.' I called to his retreating back and then stood there, not knowing what to do. Common sense dictated that I track down Annabeth immediately and sort out whatever misunderstanding that had happened between us.

Accordingly I shuffled forward and then stopped on the top step. For some reason, I felt an incredible urge to talk to someone else about. Someone else who could give me a different perspective and perhaps point out what I'd done wrong. But who? Piper had made it very clear that she wasn't ready to discuss it.

Hazel was an option but since she was unable to figure out something as basic as who she liked, I didn't really see a way where I could explain my problem to her. In the same vein, I could talk to Frank—but would he really give me the advice that I was looking for? He wasn't really that kind of a guy, in fact, he was a little like me. Clumsy and often completely clueless when it came to the intricacies of relationships.

Suddenly, I missed Grover. I missed my best friend. He, I was sure, would've known exactly where I'd gone wrong. Too bad he wasn't at Camp.

'Percy.' Chiron said softly, causing me to jump. I'd completely forgotten that he was still there.

'Uh, yeah?'

Chiron was smiling, and not his usual "this-is-probably-the-last-time-I'm-going-to-see-you" sad smile. He looked a little happy; as though he was glad he could give me some good news. 'Rachel arrived this morning. She asked me not to tell anyone, but I think she would've liked for me to make an exception for you.'

I was grinning even before he'd finished. Rachel Elizabeth Dare was the perfect person to go seeking advice from. Sometimes having a friend as the Oracle _did _come in handy.

'Thanks Chiron!' I was already heading down the steps.

'Oh and one more thing, Percy.'

I turned around and this time he was back to his gloomy self. 'Just remember...' He hesitated and looked up briefly before holding my gaze with his wise eyes, 'the Curse of Achilles will not always protect you.'

I looked at him, fairly confused. 'I know that—I have my Achilles spot, remember?'

Chiron nodded gravely, 'I hope you guard it well.'

'Of course I do.' I tried not to feel defensive but really, he was telling me things I already knew. After all, it wasn't the first time I'd handled the Curse.

'Hide it carefully.' Chiron cautioned, 'especially from—'

A loud crack of thunder cut him off abruptly. I didn't have to look up to know that that hadn't been natural. The sound was too ominous for an ordinary storm to make. I looked at Chiron and saw that he'd aged another thousand years. There was real fear in his eyes. Fear, I realized, for me.

'I'll be fine.' I said reassuringly, 'seriously. Don't worry.'

He looked troubled but nodded once before wheeling himself back into the Big House.

* * *

Rachel's cave was as grand and as distracting as ever. One entire wall was taken up by an enormous flat screen TV, which I still had dreams of "borrowing" in the near future. Paintings and sketches mostly filled the rest of the room with various types of conflicting and sometimes contrasting furniture.

At one corner, next to the bed was a wooden kangaroo hat stand.

'Hello?' I called, stepping inside and immediately dirtying the velvet carpet which covered most of the floor.

There was the sound of several things falling and then a whole stream of curses which even I had trouble following, before Rachel emerged from the back, a large streak of black paint dripping down her cheek.

'I _told _Chiron I didn't want—'

Her eyes widened with shock when she caught sight of me and I grinned, holding up my hand to do a little wave.

'Percy—you—oh gods!' She ran forward and then stopped as quickly, her green eyes narrowing in concern.

'Do you remember me?'

'Every detail.' I assured her.

Rachel didn't look convinced and examined me closely as though she was expecting to find a large ugly monster hidden inside a Percy disguise. After half a minute of silence had passed I evidently passed the physical test because she shot me a quick, challenging look.

'Okay, name one incident that you remember of me.'

'The time you hit Kronos with a plastic paintbrush.' I answered without hesitation. It was obviously a very good memory to pick because suddenly she was smiling.

'So it _is _you.' She held her arms out and I hugged her, glad that _she _at least hadn't decided to cut me off.

'You've grown taller.' Rachel noticed, leaning back to get a better look at me. 'And oh, tell me is that a _stubble?_'

Embarrassed I rubbed my chin with the back of my hand. 'I keep forgetting about that—I'll shave it off first thing tomorrow.'

'No don't,' Rachel knocked my hand off and examined me again, her green eyes narrowing in concentration. 'You should keep it,' she said, tapping my cheek with the tip of her finger, 'it makes you look older. Responsible.'

She gave me a half smile and moved back, heading for the closest easel which had a half finished charcoal drawing of _The Argo II. _Rachel's attention to detail was amazing. The masts, the weapons, she'd even drawn armoured figures on the decks, complete with a raging sea surrounding them. It looked like a movie poster.

'Nice isn't it?' She asked, absentmindedly running a thumb over her pencil.

'Awesome.' I agreed, looking around for a place to sit which wasn't covered with knick-knacks. The bed was out of the question, it had what looked like half an art supplies store on it. The other chairs all either had clothes or books stacked all over them. With my choices so limited, I chose a futon and shoved the papers on it to one side.

'So,' Rachel said, her attention never wavering from her easel, 'I'm guessing you didn't just drop by to say "hi." What's up?'

I squirmed uncomfortably in my place. Was I really that easy to read? To buy more time I searched for another topic to launch into. 'How're things with your dad? And at school?'

Rachel shrugged noncommittally, 'mostly the same. School's bearable. Dad not so much. But it's okay; we don't talk that often.'

'Ah.'

I didn't know what else to say. Was I supposed to congratulate her or sympathize with her? Rachel saved me by grinning at me.

'Seriously, Percy, let's talk about why you're here.'

I leaned back into the futon, struggling to get my thoughts together. I'd never been especially good with words, and I didn't want to give Rachel the wrong idea. 'It's about Annabeth.' I began, figuring that was the safest place as any to start.

'I see.' Rachel said simply.

'It's... complicated, honestly I—I don't even know...' I trailed off when Rachel raised a puzzled eyebrow at me. Sighing, I started again. 'I think she's... shutting me out. Annabeth's shutting me out and I don't know why.'

Rachel put her pencil down carefully and chose to sit on (what looked like) a wooden toadstool across me. 'When did this start?'

I racked my brain, 'I'm not sure exactly. I didn't even notice it at first, but then...' I sighed, rubbed my temples.

'Did you guys have a fight?'

I glanced up sharply. 'Why does everyone keep asking me that? _No, _we didn't and before you ask, no, I didn't do anything stupid, either.'

Rachel suppressed a grin. 'Sorry; but you have to admit a fight would be the most likely cause.'

Somehow, I couldn't see the humour in the statement. 'Yeah but when we fight I _know _she's pissed off. She makes it abundantly clear that I'm an idiot. This,' I paused, searching for the words, 'this is like she wants nothing to do with me. She won't even _look _at me.'

Rachel thought about that for a bit. 'Did something happen in Camp Jupiter?' She asked suddenly, 'did you maybe... not remember her?'

'Of course I remembered her.' I said, insulted.

'Okay, okay,' Rachel held up her hands peaceably, 'anything else happened in Camp Jupiter then? Anything... dangerous?'

Her question hit me like a solid brick and for a second I couldn't breathe. Suddenly, I could see Annabeth dying in front of me. Liam was at my side, yelling instructions but it wasn't working. Light flickered over Annabeth's cold face and my hand was on her chest—a chest without a heartbeat.

'Percy?'

I blinked and the images vanished, leaving me nauseous. I forced it down and concentrated as Rachel's concerned swam back into focus.

'I'm fine.' I muttered, more to convince myself than her, 'I'm okay.'

Rachel didn't look like she believed me and waited expectantly. Giving up, I figured the only way to get any help from Rachel would be to tell her the whole story.

'There was a quest,' I said monotonously, 'to get the Curse of Achilles. It was _my _quest.' I added, already feeling the first stirrings of guilt. If only I _hadn't _taken anyone else with me. _But then nothing would have been accomplished_, I reminded myself. _At least this way you have the Curse and one of the Pearls._

'Wait—didn't you already have the Curse of Achilles?' Rachel interjected.

'I did, but I lost it when—' I stopped, too tired to recount the whole thing and instead settled for, 'it's a long story.'

Thankfully, Rachel didn't object. 'Okay; so you went back to get the Curse.'

'Yeah.' I nodded, 'the point is the quest sucked. If I had to rate it, it would be right at the top of "this sucks the most" list.'

Rachel didn't smile. She understood the underlying misery of my statement. 'What happened in it?'

'Annabeth died.' I said listlessly.

'She—_what?_' Rachel's horrified expression was so intense that it almost made me laugh. 'But—but...' She sputtered, 'Chiron didn't say anything to me!'

'I meant she died for half a minute.' I corrected mildly, enjoying the fact that Rachel's green eyes were narrowed rather dangerously. Clearly she didn't find my joke amusing.

'Annabeth's heart stopped beating.' I said, ignoring the sudden wave of nausea, 'for half a minute.'

'I'm assuming it restarted eventually?'

'Yeah.' I nodded, remembering the sheer elation I'd felt when Liam had told me he felt a pulse. At that moment I'd have kissed the Son of Demeter, if he would've let me. 'They healed her—said they were no real complications.'

'I see.' Rachel rubbed her chin. I waited for her to say something but she frowned at the floor, obviously deep in thought. Not wanting to disturb the thinking process, I got up and walked over to where all her completed art work lay. One easel in particular caught my eye.

It was a pencil drawing of The Empire State building with the sun setting over the horizon. At the foot of the building were a bunch of people, wearing helmets and armour, holding aloft their spears and swords. I don't know Rachel managed to do it, but the dying rays of the sun were reflected off the metal and the entire thing glowed surreally. It was beautiful.

Rachel joined me at the easel, looking troubled. 'I think I might have an explanation and I don't think you're going to like it.'

'I'm listening.'

'Before I start, let's establish a few things about Annabeth.' Rachel raised an eyebrow at me, waiting for my nod before continuing. 'As far as I know Annabeth tends not to dwell on things that harm her. It's a defense mechanism which probably started when she ran away.'

'Sounds about right.' I agreed, thinking back to when Annabeth had brushed off my concerns about her health with absolutely no underlying fear.

'So when something hugely traumatic happens to her—she pushes it aside to deal with later.' Rachel waited for me to confirm again before resuming, 'in the short run that helps people focus on tasks but in the long run... well it can manifest in unpleasant ways.'

I stared at Rachel. She'd completely lost me. 'What do you mean?'

'Have you heard of PTSD?' Rachel said the words slowly and carefully.

I frowned, 'is that a videogame? The name sounds familiar.'

Rachel looked like she wanted to smack me on the head. Instead, she sighed. 'Really, Percy, how do you go through life so oblivious to everything around you?'

I couldn't help but grin. 'It's a rare talent.'

'Yeah, well.' Rachel huffed. 'Anyway PTSD stands for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.'

'I don't understand any of that.' I said, a little guiltily. Rachel didn't look surprised. She looked at the sketch in front of us for a moment, gathering her thoughts.

'It's a disorder which a person can develop to an event which causes psychological trauma.'

I took a moment to think over the words in my head, trying my best to understand them. 'You're saying...' I hesitated, 'you're saying there's something wrong with her head?'

'Well, yes, in a crude sense.' Rachel admitted, 'dying isn't something you can accept lightly and even though Annabeth's been in the position dozens of times, she could have easily developed it without knowing.'

I didn't know what to say. So I stayed silent.

'Tell me,' Rachel said suddenly, 'has she discussed the episode with you? Shown, I dunno—fear, about what nearly happened to her?'

'No.' I said immediately, 'no she hasn't. She avoided the conversation every time.'

Rachel nodded, 'of course that might just be because she's accepted it and moved on. It doesn't state that she has PTSD definitively.'

'But?' I questioned, hearing its silent sound in Rachel's words.

But...' Rachel hesitated, 'the symptoms are there. Avoidance of people, hiding away from social protocol, they're all red flags.'

'She talks to everyone else,' I said after a while, 'maybe not like she used to, but she makes the effort. It's _me _she's really avoiding.'

That didn't seem to bother Rachel. 'It could also signal something. You're the one who reminds her most about what happened. It makes sense for her to "shut you out" as you put it.'

The concept that _I _was the one who was causing Annabeth unknown pain was so foreign to me that for a minute, I simply wrestled the idea, hoping I could object. However, Rachel's explanation was pretty logical; and at least I wasn't flailing around in the dark anymore, wondering what I'd done wrong.

'So... what do I do?' I asked, finally.

Rachel looked at me as though it was obvious. 'Nothing.'

'Wait—what?' I looked at her in surprise, 'how will that help?'

'It won't.' Rachel shrugged, 'but at least you won't make it worse.'

I opened my mouth to argue but she waved me to shut up, her expression unusually firm.

'Look Perce,' she said in a "don't-mess-with-me" tone, 'I know you. When things go wrong with the people you love, you tend to become a little... overprotective. And that's an understatement.'

'How is that a bad thing?' I demanded.

'It isn't,' Rachel agreed, 'but right now Annabeth needs you to pretend that there's nothing wrong.'

'Isn't there a way to cure this... disorder?' I asked, wondering if there was any other computer in Camp which I could use to check the internet. The Web had answers for everything –even how to hunt a Polar Bear correctly– so I was pretty sure it could help me solve my problem.

'Therapy.' Rachel answered, 'lots and lots of it. Unfortunately we don't have time for that now.'

'Well, we could suggest it to—' I started but Rachel cut me off again.

'Do that and you'll have Annabeth running further away.' Rachel fixed me with a steady look, 'do you want that?'

My expression was enough. I sighed, suddenly wanting to punch something really hard. 'This sucks.'

Rachel gave me a sad smile. 'Life usually does.'

I stared at the drawing in front of me, feeling a bolt of nostalgia. Back then all I had to worry about was trying to hold Manhattan against Kronos. Now I was supposed to pick a crew, travel to Rome and save Nico, hopefully closing the Doors of Death in the process, and then on to Greece where I had to defend the _real _Olympus from a majorly pissed off Mother Earth and her brood of nearly invincible Giants, all the while trying not to worry about my girlfriend who refused to speak to me.

I was definitely screwed.

Eventually, I forced myself to move. I had things to do—I couldn't afford to drown myself in misery. 'Thanks a lot Rachel. Seriously.'

She grinned, accompanying me to the entrance to her cave. 'Hey; what are friends for?'

I opened my mouth with a witty retort but in the distance, a horn blew, its clear notes reverberating around the valley, bringing everyone to a standstill. I shielded my eyes, looking out and saw a very familiar figure crest Half-Blood Hill, leading a group of people after her.

'What is it?' Rachel asked worriedly, 'is Camp being attacked?'

'No.' I turned to her, grinning enormously, 'I think the Hunters of Artemis are paying us a visit.'


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Your awesome reviews inspire me to update faster. And to you fellows who give me those long reviews; well, I have a long chapter, to show my appreciation to you guys... except I'm not entirely happy with the pacing. Sigh.**

* * *

**3) I Get Told Off By Several People.**

**Annaebth**

I was on page 404 of _The Hidden Facts of Greek Mythology _when Malcolm walked in, grinding his teeth in frustration. Till then, I'd spent the morning reading, staring at the Liam's map, making notes on leads which might have been genuine and generally working myself to the ground.

Of course, I'd also managed to teach Piper a new technique and managed to completely freak out when I'd duelled Percy and held him at knife's point. My hands began to shake as I remembered the image of my weapon pressing into his skin and I had to contain the urge to throw up. It had been so _easy _as though somebody had handed defenceless Percy to me on a platter. How much easier would it be to press the same blade into his back and watch him fall to the ground, screaming in agony?

I threw the book across the room in revulsion as Malcolm sat down heavily on his bunk and fixed me with a glare.

'We need to talk.'

I ignored him and got up to retrieve the book. I had no time to waste—it was imperative I found _some _hint to the Pearl's location. The_ Argo II _was supposed to sail in four days and if I was going to steer the ship on the course I wanted, I first needed a solid location. In the back of my mind, several doubts continued to nag me but one stood out in particular.

What was I going to do if—_when _I got the Pearl? Sure, I had grand plans of handing it over to Gaia to save Percy but the more I thought about it, the more I began to quaver at the thought. I couldn't just _give _Gaia the means for her to succeed, could I? What would that achieve anyway? It wasn't as though that gave Percy a free pass to continue existing.

_Stop thinking about that, _I told myself severely, _you have enough problems as it is. _

'Annabeth!' Malcolm shouted, startling me so much that I dropped the book again.

'_What?_' I hissed, bending over and wincing when I noticed a page had come out.

'We need to talk.' He repeated and by his expression I could see he was extremely annoyed. I couldn't care less. Nothing he said would hold a candle to what I had to deal with.

'I'm busy.' I said stiffly, attempting to find the correct place to put the errant piece of paper in.

'You're always busy.' Malcolm snapped, getting to his feet and crossing the room to stop in front of me. 'You're supposed to be heading the systems' check up and you didn't show up—again.'

'I _told _you,' I said, equally irritated by the fact that he was in my face, 'you're perfectly qualified to handle it. You don't need me there.'

'Oh yeah?' Malcolm crossed his arms. 'Fine—what about your other duties? Making sure your cabin gets to meals in time? Making sure they get to _bed _in time? Making sure they aren't slacking off when they're supposed to be _working?_'

'I haven't had any complaints.' I shot back.

'That's because _I_'_ve_ been doing everything.' Malcolm said loudly, 'I've been doing _your _job ever since you left; you might as well just make me the Head Counsellor.'

I stared at my brother. In all the years that I'd known him, we'd never had an actual fight. He was soft-spoken and kind and gentle and unflinchingly loyal. He was my go to guy whenever I needed something done. His words echoed in my head and I couldn't help feel a stab of betrayal.

'Is that what this is about?' I asked quietly, 'you want to be Head Counsellor?'

Malcolm looked absolutely thunderstruck by my words.

'Because you can have it.' I went on, and found that I actually meant the words I was saying, 'you can take the position. I don't really care.'

'I _don't _want it!' Malcolm said; hurt flashing darkly in his grey eyes. 'I just want you to do the things you're supposed to do! How could you even think that of me?'

I leaned back against the wall, suddenly weary. 'Malcolm, it's just a _systems _check up. It's no big deal.'

'It _is _a big deal.' He insisted, 'and if you'd been there today, you'd have understood why.'

I sighed, my fingers running over the pages of the book in front of me. Already I could feel the beginnings of a headache forming deep inside my skull. It was no secret that I hadn't been getting enough sleep but this... _fight _with my brother was really draining me. I looked at Malcolm's stubborn stance and knew I wasn't going to get rid of him that easily.

'Fine.' I said, hoping it would be something inconsequential, 'what happened today?'

'I got into a fight with Leo.' He said, a tad guiltily.

'Over what?'

Malcolm sat down beside me, collecting his thoughts. Trying not to waste time, I propped up my book and began reading again, wondering in the back of my mind where I'd left the glue stick so I could stick the torn page back in.

'Two days ago,' Malcolm began, 'I managed to upgrade the software I created for the _Argo II _to version 2.0.'

'Good for you.' I said, still reading through the words as fast as I could. A name jumped out at me and I jotted it down immediately on the notepad I always kept beside me. I already had six probable destinations, scattered around the continents and I was desperate for something that could help me begin cutting the list down.

'The upgrade works better than I thought it would,' Malcolm said, pride seeping into his words, 'its stable, it's accurate and best of all it has drastically reduced chances of malfunctioning.'

'So what's the problem?' I examined my brother over the top of my book.

'The problem,' Malcolm said, sounding slightly strangled, 'is that it's not compatible with Leo's hardware. It hangs the entire system.'

Dimply, I remembered Percy mentioning something similar and I put my book down, suddenly realizing that the problem wasn't as inconsequential as I hoped.

'Why can't you just work with the earlier version: 1.6, I think it's called?' I asked the obvious question, even though I knew that Malcolm wouldn't be telling me all this if it were just that simple.

'Because the earlier software has serious issues—most of which revolve around inconsistent functioning.' Malcolm explained, 'At best, I can guarantee up to a thousand hours of clear interfacing... after that it's anybody's game.'

I reached for my notepad and then reconsidered, I always did calculations better in my head anyway. The figures tended to jump around a lot if I wrote them down. It took me five seconds and when I was done I breathed a sigh of relief.

'So that's okay,' I said reassuringly, 'the voyage isn't going to last longer than a month and that amounts to seven hundred and twenty hours. We're well within the limit.'

'No, we're not.' Malcolm said shortly, 'I said that's the _best _I can guarantee. For all I know, it might start acting up when it's two hours of out of harbour.'

I stared at him, 'you can't be serious.'

He shrugged, 'I'm not kidding around.'

'Then _why_ didn't you say anything earlier?' I demanded, wincing when my head pounded. I'd never been able to handle stress very well and whenever I was dealing with something that was really annoying, the pain always manifested inside my head. I didn't know why—maybe it was an Athenian thing.

'I tried.' Malcolm insisted, 'but you were always too _busy _for me.'

I blew the air out of my cheeks. This was not good news. Sure, I hadn't paid attention to what Malcolm had been up to then again, I'd figured that maybe he had it all under control and didn't need my help. It suddenly dawned on me that he might've been experiencing problems ever since he started out with the software but had been too proud to ask for my help. And then, when he'd eventually decided to confide me I hadn't bothered to listen.

_This fatal flaw, _I thought miserably, _is going to be the end of us all._

'There is a way to fix it.' Malcolm said, breaking the strained silence that had enveloped us.

'How?' I racked my brain and tried to figure out what solution he'd found. From whatever angle I looked at it, the problem seemed insurmountable except—

I stared at my brother in disbelief. 'It isn't going to work. We don't have enough time.'

Malcolm looked at me grimly, 'we don't have an option. We _have _to recalibrate the hardware.'

I threw up hands up in frustration, 'we're talking about an entire _ship _here, Malcolm. And we have _four_ days before we leave—less, if you keep in mind that we have to teach the Romans how to operate the _Argo II._'

'We don't have to do the whole ship,' he said quickly, 'we only need to recalibrate Operations, Navigation and Communication. The rest can run on 1.6 without too much of a problem.'

'That's the three most important systems on the ship,' I pointed out, 'no wonder Leo had a fit.'

'Look,' Malcolm said evenly, 'you're going on a suicide quest, okay? The _least_ I can do to keep my sister alive is to provide safe transportation. I know you don't care about yourself—'

I opened my mouth to argue but when he raised his eyebrows challenging me, and I had to admit that looking out for my health was way down the list of priorities.

'—but _I_ care about you. So I'm asking you, if I mean anything to you as a brother, help me keep you safe.'

I buried my face into my hands, sighing loudly. Trust an Athenian child to try and manipulate his sister with emotions when logic failed. For a moment, I couldn't help but be impressed by my brother's tactics but the annoyance soon won out. I didn't like being cornered into doing things—even if there were the right things to do.

'Fine.' I conceded grumpily, 'what do you want me to do?'

Malcolm smiled a little at my tone but his gaze remained serious. 'You need to convince Leo that—'

'Leo's not going to listen,' I interrupted, 'you know that.'

'Okay,' Malcolm didn't look perturbed, 'then get Jason to listen. Even Leo can't disobey a direct order from him.'

I rubbed my temples. 'You know we need proof, right? Even _if_ Jason agrees, we can't just demand that Leo dismantle half his machinery because we may have a glitch.'

'I know,' Malcolm nodded, 'which is why I got Emily to run simulations of both the versions in the morning. We have the figures to back ourselves.'

I smiled at the thought of my sister –or well, _our _sister– running boring simulations for hours. If there was anyone in Camp who hated work more than the Aphrodite cabin, it was Emily.

'You're going to be the death of me.' I told Malcolm, giving in and getting out of my bed to look for my shoes. It was imperative I got to Jason as soon as I could. The recalibration would take a while, even with two cabins working twenty four/seven.

Just as I found the first shoe, a horn blew in the distance, its sound reaching me slightly muffled because of the walls surrounding me. I rose, shoe in hand and felt a deep sense of both irritation and relief.

'That sounds familiar.' Malcolm noted, trying to stare out of the window to see what the commotion was about.

'It should.' I muttered resentfully, 'the Hunters seemed to be in town.'

* * *

Malcolm and I separated as we neared the Big House. I continued on my way and he veered off to find Emily so he could collect the result sheets. I promised him I'd pick it up from him and hour, before going to confront Leo.

Jason (who was just coming out of the Big House—wonder why _he _was there, considering he detested the place), Thalia and I all converged at the same point and at the same time so it almost made me feel like I was in a movie.

'Thalia!' Jason was grinning from ear to ear and he enveloped his sister in a big hug which made the other Hunters wrinkle their noses in disgust.

'Hey, kiddo.' Thalia patted him on the shoulder affectionately while I tried to beat down the flare of resentment. She used to call _me _"kiddo..." back when I was seven years old.

'Annabeth.'

Somehow I couldn't bring myself to remain annoyed at Thalia so I gave in and hugged her, feeling slightly déjà vu when she gripped me tightly in her unique embrace. I hadn't seen her in _ages _and though she'd promised to drop in before we took off for Camp Jupiter, something had delayed her... as usual.

'Where've you been?' Jason pouted, 'I haven't seen you since the quest.'

'I know,' Thalia said, looking a little guilty, 'I promise I'll fill you guys in as soon as I can, but first...' she turned to me raising her eyebrows expectantly, 'where is he? You did manage to bring him back, right?'

'If "he" refers to me then, yeah, she did manage to bring me back.'

Percy, as usual had impeccable timing. When I noticed where he'd come from I couldn't help but frown a little. Why'd he gone up to Rachel's cave? Surely she wasn't back yet?

'Kelp head.' Thalia appraised Percy carefully, before leaning forward to punch him the shoulder. 'What is wrong with you? Who disappears for six months?'

'Hey, it's not my fault.' Percy complained and managed to wrap his arms around Thalia before she could object.

I looked away, bile rising in my throat. The more time I spent with Percy, the worse it got. Here he was, so lovable, so funny, so endearing, so _trusting _and there I was holding a secret that could (would) kill him. I couldn't stand it—and to some extent, I couldn't stand him. I knew I was being selfish; I was blaming him for my problems and probably hurting him in the process.

My head throbbed again painfully.

'Okay—let me go, Jackson,' Thalia thumped him on the back and he laughed releasing her.

The other Hunters muttered amongst themselves, gazing at Percy and Jason distrustfully. Thalia heard them and cleared her throat, silencing the noises.

'I need to officially tell Chiron that we've arrived. Phoebe—' Thalia gestured to her second-in-command who I vaguely recognized having fought beside her during the siege of Manhattan, 'proceed to the Cabin 8 immediately.'

Phoebe saluted smartly and led the group off, all of them careful to step around Jason as though he carried some infectious disease.

'Could you guys give me a minute?' Thalia wasn't really asking and I just shrugged, choosing to sit down on the nearest step as she disappeared through the doorway.

'Can you believe she's here?' Jason asked excitedly, 'with the Hunters _and _the Campers, Gaia's going to have a tough time on her hands.'

I blinked at his words, remembering that my brother had given me a job to do. 'That reminds me,' I told Jason carefully, 'do you remember refereeing an argument between Leo and Malcolm today?'

Percy glanced up, listening attentively as Jason shrugged. 'Yeah, Malcolm wanted to install some upgrades and Leo refused, saying it wasn't necessary. I told Malcolm to give it a rest.'

'Yeah, well,' I sighed, thinking of my impending quarrel with Leo, 'I need you to overturn that decision.'

_That _got Jason's attention. 'Why?'

'Because those upgrades need to be installed,' I said quickly, hoping he wouldn't argue, 'I'd explain it to you but you won't understand.'

In hindsight, that wasn't probably the best thing to Jason Grace. His shoulders stiffened and his eyes tightened considerably, 'I don't think _you _have any right—'

'Maybe,' Percy intervened before things got out of hand, 'since Annabeth and Malcolm helped built this ship, we should listen to them. If they think it needs to be upgraded; it probably _really_ needs to be upgraded.'

Jason didn't look reassured. 'Leo told me he didn't want those upgrades. And it's _his _ship.'

'I know,' I said in my politest tone, 'which is why when I convince him to accept the upgrades, I'll tell him that you agree with me.'

There was a little silence as Jason filtered through my words. Percy glanced between me and him but I kept my gaze fixed on the electric blue eyes, hoping that it would help me cope better. Even though I knew Percy was right next to me, it seemed to make a huge difference when I wasn't looking at him. Almost as though I could pretend he wasn't there.

'How long are these upgrades going to take?' Jason eventually asked, his brow furrowing in thought.

'Best case scenario?' I said, visualizing it inside my head, 'two days. And that's with every helping hand we can find.'

'Two _days?_' Jason repeated incredulously, 'we don't have enough time—'

'And so,' I said loudly, drowning out his words, 'we're going to start as soon as we can.'

Jason opened his mouth and closed it again, a little bit like a fish. In normal times, Percy and I would've exchanged a grin at the sight but I stared at the ground, refusing to acknowledge my boyfriend's presence. Of course, he didn't make it easy for me.

'Tell Leo that Jason and I agree for the upgrades to be installed.' Percy said, and I felt his gaze on me again, 'and we'll help in any way we can.'

I could tell Jason didn't appreciate Percy speaking for both of them like that but that moment I didn't care. I was sure they could work out their balance of power without my help.

Thalia breezed back out, oblivious to the tension in the air. 'Wow. I swear Chiron gets gloomier every time I visit.'

'Yeah,' I said after a moment when no one else offered to comment, 'but you should cut him some slack, he's had a rough year.'

Thalia raised an eyebrow at me and looked around. 'Are you guys okay—?'

'We're fine.' Jason cut her off, 'everything's just fine.'

It was obvious that Thalia didn't believe that but she didn't pursue it, probably deciding to respect her little brother's wishes. I thought back to how she would bite Luke's head off when he acted aloof with her and couldn't help the sad smile.

'Anyway,' Jason said after a moment, when he looked a little more in control of his emotions, 'thank the gods you're here. We're leaving four days so we're gonna have to figure out where to fit the Hunters on the ship—'

'About that,' Thalia broke in gently, 'well... we need to talk.'

Jason looked at his sister in surprise, 'why? What's wrong?'

'You can't come, can you?' I posed the question to Thalia, interrupting whatever she'd been about to say. 'That's why you're in Camp. To tell us you can't come.'

Thalia sighed, effectively answering my question.

'But... why?' Jason looked thunderstruck, 'Thalia, we agreed—we need all the resources we can find to take on Gaia.'

'I know,' Thalia nodded, 'I know but it's complicated and I—'

She stopped talking. Just like that. At first I thought she'd had a stroke or something and I was on my feet in a moment. But then, I realized her blue eyes were narrowed dangerously... and staring right past me.

'What,' Thalia began in a distinctly suspicious tone, 'is _he _doing here?'

'Wait—what?' Percy turned around, examining the area to find someone out who Thalia was referring to. 'What're you talking about?'

She didn't answer. Instead, with a running leap, she jumped right over the railing around the front porch and took off, aiming towards the strawberry fields. Jason, Percy and I exchanged worried glances (except I cheated and didn't really meet Percy's gaze) and came to a mutual understanding.

We ran after her.

Just so you know, Hunters run like, _really _fast. Adding to that, Thalia also had a head start so we had no hopes of catching up in time. By the time we got to the strawberry patch, Thalia had drawn her hunting knife and gone full _Super girl _on her nemesis. Trampling all over the plants, and trying to drown out Katie's screams to get out of the strawberry beds, I caught Thalia by the collar of her "Bieber sucks and so do you" T-shirt and pulled her off whoever she was attacking with gusto.

The person who was on the receiving end of her mania turned out to be Liam.

He had one of his swords drawn but his lip was cut and bleeding. Adding to that, he'd virtually rolled around in the plants and so he had bright pink stains all over his black jacket. If I wasn't so worried about Thalia's mental health, I might have found the sight amusing.

'Get—_off_—me!' Thalia struggled, nearly putting an elbow into my stomach. Thankfully, Percy stepped in behind me and caught her flailing arms, easily pulling them up to her back so that she dropped her knife.

Jason got to Liam and kicked his sword out of his reach.

'What in Hades name are you doing?' Percy bellowed, shoving Thalia to one side so he was in between her and Liam.

'Let me at him, Jackson.' Thalia attempted to push past but Percy was much bigger than her and he managed to keep her off.

'Oh great,' Liam muttered sardonically from the ground, 'now I have two Grace's to deal with.'

'Shut up.' Jason suddenly didn't look too friendly either and I pulled him aside, afraid that he was going to draw his sword and finish off what his sister had started.

'Okay—enough, ENOUGH!' Percy yelled, grabbing Thalia's wrists and holding him to his chest so that she couldn't move. 'Will somebody _please, _tell me what's going on?'

'I thought it was obvious,' Liam groaned as he got to his feet, 'the crazy Grace girl came out of nowhere and attacked me.'

Thalia looked venomous. 'I should kill you, traitor.'

She tried to launch herself again but found that she couldn't move thanks to Percy's iron grip. 'No one is killing anyone okay? Not until I have an explanation.'

Jason took a dangerous step forward, anger glinting his eyes, 'my sister called him a traitor. I think that's explanation enough.'

'Oh please,' Liam looked bored, 'she's just annoyed because she lost against me.'

'Wait a second!' I stopped Jason from moving forward and looked at Thalia, 'you guys know each other?'

'Know each other?' Liam repeated mockingly, 'oh we know each other _very _well, if you know what I mean.' He winked provokingly.

'You little son of a—' Jason pushed past me before I had a chance to react but Percy managed to get to him in time. Grabbing Jason by the shirt he pulled him back, rotating around so that both Thalia and Jason were on one side of his body and Liam and I on the other.

'Just, stop, okay?' Percy held up his hands, 'stop trying to kill him. He's my friend—'

'He is?' Thalia's eyebrows could have disappeared into her hairline.

'I am?' Liam looked equally surprised.

'_Yes._' Percy shot them both a quelling look, 'so until one of you starts talking; I'm afraid there's going to be no killing. Your choice.'

Thalia looked like she wanted to kill _Percy _but since she was bereft of her hunting knife and her arrows would be of no use at such a short range, she grimaced and took a step back, her blue eyes flashing with suppressed anger.

'I'm not explaining myself to _anyone._' She said, daring any one of us to argue with her. 'And _you,' _she pointed a single finger and Liam, 'I will have my revenge, traitor.'

Without another word, she turned on her heel and walked away; ignoring Katie's repeated pleas to not destroy the plants.

'A truly Oscar winning performance!' Liam called after her, clapping his hands loudly but Thalia didn't turn around.

'Stop it.' I shot him a glare, 'you aren't helping.'

'Oh, gee, ya think?' Liam snorted and bent down to pick up his sword.

'What did you do to my sister?' Jason demanded, trying to get around Percy again, 'if you hurt her, I swear I'll—'

'Oh, that's cute.' Liam interrupted and I groaned at his antagonizing tone. 'That's really very brotherly of you,' He repeated, 'but if you _really _want to know what I did to your sister—well, have you heard of third base?'

It took the combined efforts of Percy and me to stop Jason from ripping Liam to shreds. We struggled back and forth, ruining any plants that were under our feet forever while Liam chuckled heartily in the background.

'Back off, Jason!' Percy held him off, 'he's just baiting you. Let me handle it okay?'

'Don't patronize me, Jackson.' Jason snarled, still attempting to get past us, 'what, you think you're better than me? Well let me tell you, you can't make all these decisions on your own okay? You _need_ me.'

'That's _not_—' Percy began but Jason suddenly withdrew, surprising us.

'Fine; you want to deal with him?' Jason waved furiously at the still laughing Liam, 'then deal with him. But just remember what I told you earlier,' Jason's tone turned ugly, 'this one is on _you._'

And just like his sister, he turned around and stalked off as well. I should probably mention that he went in the opposite direction.

'Wow.' Liam shook his head as though he couldn't believe. 'Such talent in the family. Their father would so proud, don't you think?'

I opened my mouth to retort but Percy did one better. He took a step forward and punched Liam full in the face. Liam collapsed into the strawberry patch again, adding another splash of color to his clothes.

'Don't try and tell me off.' Percy muttered, still breathing heavily.

'I wasn't going to.' I admitted and he looked up to give me a grin. My insides went numb and I fought to keep my emotions in control. Something must've showed on my face though, because the grin slid off Percy's face and he turned his attention to Liam who was groaning loudly into the mud.

'C'mon,' Percy said, bending down to grasp one arm, 'it doesn't hurt that much. Get up.'

Liam got to his feet painfully, his nose twisted at an odd angle. Blood dripped down his face and on to his clothes adding an interesting colour to his already stained jacket.

'Just so you dow,' Liam mumbled, reaching into his pocket to retrieve a handkerchief, 'that was seriously dot cool.' He patted it against his face, wincing as he did so.

'You're right,' Percy said, looking a trifle guilty, 'I'm sorry. It won't happen again.'

'It better dot.' Liam's expression turned warning and this time there was no mocking humour underneath the surface, 'you try and ad attack me agaid and I'll leave Camp—and take the Pearl with me.'

The threat was real. Despite how ridiculous Liam looked with his bent nose and blood dripping down his chin, I knew he was being deadly serious. Apparently Percy thought the same because his tone became much more soothing.

'It won't happen again, okay?' He said reassuringly, 'it's cool. We're cool.'

'If you could just tell us though,' I kept my tone even, 'what happened between you and Thalia.'

For a moment Liam actually considered it. Then his expression turned sullen. 'Why?' He demanded annoyingly, 'I dod't owe you guys adything.'

'Man, c'mon—' Percy tried but Liam brushed him off.

'Dow, if you'd excuse me; I need to get to the idfirmary to get my nose fixed.'

Liam sighed loudly and holding the handkerchief up to his face, began to walk down the patch slowly, mumbling loudly to himself about annoying children of Zeus and Poseidon.

'Seriously?' Percy looked like he wanted to bang his head against the wall, 'this is unbelievable.'

I looked down at my jeans which had strawberry juice splattered all across it. 'Tell me about it.'

A little silence followed and when I looked up, I found him watching me carefully. I half expected him to demand what was wrong with me because I knew he'd picked up on my odd behaviour around him. It was hard not to. And as long as I'd known Percy, he'd always been the one to try and fix things between us.

Surprisingly, he just shrugged. 'What're we going to do?'

I sighed, and looked across the patch watching Liam hobble away. 'You go with Liam; make sure he doesn't pick a fight with anyone else.'

'Okay.' Percy nodded, apparently all business. 'What about you?'

I blew out my cheeks. 'I'm going to go find Thalia. And try and get to the bottom of this mess.'

* * *

It wasn't difficult to find where Thalia had disappeared off to. Well, it wasn't difficult to find because I _knew _where'd she'd gone. In the one year that she'd attended Camp, she'd discovered a little cove in the woods, which was sheltered from the elements by a huge banyan tree which must have been thousands of years old.

Back then, I would often find her there, agonizing about Luke and what he'd become. It was her place of solace. It was her retreat. Therefore I wasn't at all surprised when she told me in no uncertain terms to beat it when I attempted to join her.

I ignored her and reclined on one of the fallen moss covered braches, very wisely keeping my mouth shut. For a long time both of us just sat there, not speaking and just listening to the birds singing with gusto all around us. Dappled sunlight lit up the ground in patches and squirrels darted around all over the place once it became clear that the two demigods weren't a threat to them.

Eventually, I stirred. 'It's the eyes isn't it? It's Luke's eyes. I noticed it too.'

Thalia glared at me threateningly but I went on.

'Though, other than that, they aren't alike at all.' I said casually, 'Liam's an ass. I'll be the first to admit that but killing him—that's way over the line, even for you.'

'It's not gonna work, Annabeth.' She muttered, digging into the ground with a stick and annoying the ants whose nest she'd upset.

'What isn't?' I asked, innocently.

Thalia shot me an annoyed look. 'I'm not telling you anything. You're wasting your time.'

'That's okay then,' I smiled, 'since it's my time to waste.'

She snorted and went back to terrorizing the ants. I watched her for a full minute, wondering if I could just out wait her. It soon dawned on me that since she was immortal, she had pretty much all the time in the world to waste. I however, was on a tight schedule. I had to pick up the results from Malcolm and lock horns with Leo before lunch was over so that work on the _Argo II _could start in the evening.

'Look,' I attempted again, 'you can't kill Liam okay? We need him—'

'Why?' Thalia interrupted, looking up from the ground. 'Why do you need him?'

I started to say _it's complicated _but then I realized that that wouldn't help at all. Sighing, I went for the short version. 'He has something; something that will be very useful to us.'

I neglected to mention that I'd been the one to give him that "something" in a moment of weakness. I didn't want my head chopped off just yet. 'If you kill him, it'll be lost. And we'll be in serious trouble.'

'He's a traitor.' Thalia said, unimpressed by my argument, 'he deserves to die.'

'See you keep _saying _that!' I exclaimed forgetting that I was supposed to try the reasonable approach, 'why can't you just tell me what happened between you two?'

She shook her head and I leaned back against my branch, on the verge of just giving up when she suddenly glanced at me, her eyes boring into mine, glinting with ideas.

'What?' I asked, not really liking the way she was looking at me.

'You really want to know why I want to kill him?' Thalia asked, raising her eyebrow.

'Well, duh.' I said, exasperated and a little suspicious of her sudden change of heart.

'Okay.' She shrugged agreeably, 'I'll tell you—'

'Praise the gods.' I muttered gesturing with my hands.

'—but in _exchange,_' Thalia's tone turned devious, 'you have to tell me what's wrong between you and Percy.'

A cold pit formed in my stomach and I had to force my expression to remain the same. 'I don't know what you mean.'

'Oh, please.' She laughed disbelievingly, 'you never could lie to me, Annabeth.'

'Honestly,' I tried again, 'there's nothing wrong. We're fine.'

'Then why is it you can't look him in the eye anymore?' Thalia countered swiftly. I gaped at her. How good were her observational skills anyway? She'd barely seen us interacting and most of time that we'd been around her, had been spent by trying not to let her commit first degree murder.

'Did he cheat on you?' Thalia asked in her usual blunt manner.

My mouth opened... and remained open. 'Wha—no!'

'Then what is it?' She pressed. A sudden expression of distaste crossed her face. 'Is he forcing you to do something you aren't comfort—?'

'Thalia!' I wanted to bury my head in my hands. 'Seriously, stop. There's nothing wrong.'

She appraised me for a moment. Then shrugged and went back to her stick, drawing meaningless patterns in the ground. 'A deal's a deal. Take it or leave it.'

I was stuck. I mean, sure I'd thought about confiding with her or Chiron ever since I'd gotten back to Camp. But the more I'd thought about it, the more I'd decided that it was _my _burden to bear. Besides, neither of them could help, so what was the point? Thalia wasn't evening coming on the voyage—if she was, then I could've at least enlisted her help in locating the Pearl.

There was no way I was telling her what was really wrong. I decided to just cook up something. What would she know about relationship problems anyway? I could feed her some nonsense about "Percy doesn't understand me" and she would be none the wiser.

'Fine.' I said, trying not to sound pleased, 'we have a deal. But you've to go first.'

Thalia rolled her eyes at me and continued drawing in the mud. I waited patiently and helped pass the time by tossing pebbles at the squirrels in the trees. The snickered at me, outraged and ran around all over the place, dropping their food in the process.

'How much do you know about Jason's quest to rescue Hera?' Thalia asked eventually, keeping her concentration on her dirt rendition of modern art.

I shrugged, 'enough. He told me about it.'

She nodded, obviously expecting such a response and lapsed into silence again. I threw another pebble at the squirrels and I was pretty sure they cursed me to high heaven in response.

'I was chasing Lycaon and his werewolves when I first bumped into them.' Thalia said suddenly and I turned my attention back to her, 'after dropping Jason off at Aeolus' palace, I caught up with my Hunters and continued to hunt the monsters.'

'He led us on a merry ride to California, but we managed to wound him and his servants several times.' She tossed the stick aside, evidently bored with her masterpiece.

'Finally, we cornered him at LA.' Thalia fixed with a glare and suddenly I had a bad feeling about the story.

'Lycaon is a coward,' Thalia spat, 'and he retreated down the Underworld so we had no choice but to follow him in. At that time, even though Hades was in charge, the place was at breaking point. It was like a prison riot.'

I could imagine what she'd encountered.

'We lost him in the foray but then so did his werewolves. They got caught in the Fields of Punishment and well, _died_ painfully, I guess.' Thalia didn't seem very sure about their fate but I could tell that that wasn't the point of the story.

'Lycaon, being the smart werewolf that he is, escaped into the Fields of Asphodel. We spread out, looking for him and that's when I came across the traitor.'

'His name is Liam.' I pointed out, unnecessarily.

'Whatever.' Thalia scowled. 'So I asked him, nicely, if he'd seen a werewolf run past. You know what he said to me?'

I groaned. This was not going to be good.

'He told me that Lycaon was under his _protection_.' Thalia's disgust was evident, 'as though the he was the freaking Lord of the Underworld.'

_Typical Liam, _I thought to myself. Even when he had no one around him to piss off, he found people to piss off.

'So naturally, I went for my weapons.' Thalia said, her tone making it obvious that she'd tried the diplomatic approach really hard and that it had failed completely.

'Naturally.' I muttered to myself, waiting for her to continue but she remained unnaturally silent. I looked up at Thalia and found her staring at the ground with immense concentration.

'Wait a sec...' I frowned, piecing together all the animosity I'd seen between Thalia and Liam. In all cases, Thalia had been the one to go for the kill, while Liam had been content to hang back and play defence, almost as though he _knew _that there was nothing to be afraid of, 'he didn't—he didn't actually _beat _you, did he?'

Thalia continued to glower at the ground.

'Oh gods.' I breathed, trying my best not to laugh. 'He beat you. He actually beat you! No wonder you're so annoyed with him.'

'It wasn't a fair fight.' She snapped, 'in case you weren't listening we were _at_ the Field's of Asphodel. And I didn't know that he was a Son of Demeter.'

'Okay, okay,' I said peaceably, 'you're right, you were completely blindsided.'

Thalia narrowed her eyes dangerously, 'this isn't funny Annabeth.'

'I never said it was.' I protested hurriedly.

'Because that man helped a very important agent of Gaia escape. That isn't something demigods do when they're working against her.' Thalia was clearly getting worked up because I could see electricity dancing around her fingertips.

'Yeah but that doesn't mean he's working _for _her.' I pointed out.

'Okay: do you have proof that he isn't working for her?' Thalia shot back, 'tell me Annabeth; how much do you know about that man?'

I opened my mouth and then found I had nothing to say. The truth was, I had precious little knowledge about Liam as such. I had no idea where was born, who his mortal parent was and where he'd been trained. The guy's past was a major blank and that's always a worry when you have to deal with demigods who are entirely capable of switching sides. And Liam definitely belonged to that category.

'There's something weird about him,' Thalia muttered and glanced at me moodily, 'and it's not because he has Luke's eyes. It's something else.'

A little silence descended over us. The squirrels ran around, picking up their dropped food and the birds twittered from far above us. My headache, previously banished by an aspirin I'd popped in my cabin was building steadily again and I rubbed my temples, looking for something to distract me.

'Why can't you come with us to Rome?' I asked suddenly, finding that the only safe conversation to discuss since there was no way I was bringing up my relationship with Percy on my own.

Thalia grimaced, 'Aretmis' orders. Apparently we aren't allowed to help the quest in anyway.'

'That's ridiculous.' I stated.

'You're telling me.' Thalia sighed wearily, 'I dunno—I tried everything. She's never been so... she just refused to listen. I'm under direct orders to not interfere.'

Despite the warmth of the day, I felt my blood run cold. This looked suspiciously like my mother's handiwork. But what was the point of stopping Thalia from helping? Unless Gaia decided that the Hunter's activity meant that the gods were stirring themselves into action—that my mother couldn't have. Her entire plan rested on lulling Gaia into a false sense of security.

'And that isn't all of it,' Thalia said unhappily, 'Grover's been told to lay off the quest as well.'

'_What?' _Just like we'd counted on the Hunters as allies, we'd been sure that Grover would be able to bolster our ranks with his nature spirits. I could feel myself trembling with anger, directed of course, towards my dear mother.

'Yeah.' Thalia looked at the ground glumly, 'I met him outside Cincinnati. Apparently Mr. D forbade him from coming back to Camp, just to make sure.'

'That's terrible.' I said, thinking about how Percy was going to react to the news. He hadn't seen his best friend in over a year; and by the looks of it, he'd probably never get to meet him again.

'You know, I promised myself I'd do a better job protecting Jason this time.' Thalia kicked at the braches of her fallen log angrily, 'and now I can't do a thing.'

I felt like kicking something myself. This was beyond unfair. First my mother dumped me with a terrible prophecy and then made it impossible for the actual quest to succeed. Malcolm had been right; I was off on a suicide mission. The only relief I got from that I wouldn't have to kill Percy if I died first. The thought cheered me up slightly.

'Anyway,' Thalia said, looking at me, making it clear she didn't want to continue with the depressing topic, 'I held up my part of the deal. It's your turn.'

I stared at her, fighting the impulse to spill the beans. I was so _tired _of carrying the secret by myself and even if Thalia couldn't help, the relief I would feel by telling her would far outweigh the cons. I opened my mouth and then stopped, feeling a terrible defeat wash over me.

'You should have made me swear on the Styx.' I said, hating myself for even saying the words. I stood up and brushed the leaves off my clothes, 'c'mon, you need to go tell Jason about your orders.'

* * *

Malcolm met me on my way back to the infirmary and handed me a sheaf of papers without a word. I flipped through them since conversation with Thalia was out of the question now that she'd refused to talk to me.

Thalia caught sight of Jason practicing in the Arena and went off to join him without saying a word. I let her go, knowing she'd forgive me soon enough. Some friendship's survived all kinds of things, even broken deals.

I took the steps to the infirmary two at a time since I was running late for meeting up with Leo. Still, something Thalia said had bothered me enough to warrant a visit so I tried to be as quick as possible.

When I walked into the room, I was so surprised to see Drew there; that I nearly dropped the papers Malcolm had given me.

'Oh hello, Annabeth.' Drew looked at me with acute displeasure.

'I... um, hi?' I stuck to my most neutral tone and shuffled forward a few feet till I could see Liam reclining in an easy chair, his nose looking much better than it had earlier. I that noticed his jacket was hanging off the back of the chair.

'You need something?'

'Yes.' I nodded quickly, wanting to be over and done with my confirmation as soon as I could. 'We need to talk.'

Liam shrugged, 'Drew; could you give us a minute?'

Drew practically melted when Liam looked at her. Her smile was so wide, and for a moment so _genuine _that I almost forgot that she was a cold hearted, manipulative, bitch. Then she shot me a glare as she got up to leave and I got my priorities straightened out.

'Seriously?' I asked Liam, collapsing into the chair once Drew had exited the room.

He didn't look fazed. 'She's pretty and she actually _likes _me, unlike some people I could name.'

I raised an eyebrow, not impressed. 'That's because you piss everyone else off.'

Liam smirked. 'Details, details. Anyway; what d'you want?'

I stared at him, making sure I could see every reaction of his clearly. It was imperative I cleared my doubts otherwise I'd be living in the "what if" universe for the rest of the journey.

'Thalia told me about her... encounter with you.' I said, careful to keep any inflection out of my words.

The surprise on Liam's face was too authentic to fake. 'Really?' He drawled, stretching the word out, 'I didn't she had it in her.'

'The point being,' I said insistently, wanting to avoid going down the path to insult, 'you have some explaining to do.'

Liam snorted, 'I told you earlier. I don't owe you anything.'

'I will remind you,' I was annoyed now, 'that I'm the one who gave you that Pearl.'

'And I bet you regret doing so.' Liam smiled sardonically.

I didn't say anything, choosing instead to stare at him. As much as it hurt to look into those familiar eyes, I stuck it out because I was determined not to leave without an answer.

My scrutiny made him uncomfortable. He squirmed in his chair and his usual jaded mask fell away for the tiniest moment, revealing a man who looked frightened—even just a little bit guilty.

Then it was back up and he was snapping at me. 'What d'you want to know?'

'Lycaon.' I said immediately.

Liam studied his fingers, obviously buying time to answer. I waited, as patiently as I could; trying not to remember that the time I was wasting time that could have been used to convince Leo to start the recalibration.

'When Lycaon entered the Underworld that day,' Liam started suddenly, still looking at his fingers, 'he came to me and called in a favour.'

'Called in a favour?' I repeated, 'you _owed _him something? Why?'

'I owed him because he helped me find one of the Pearls a few years ago—the copy I lost at Hephaestus Way.' Liam looked up at me defiantly, daring me to judge him. I kept my face blank and waited patiently.

'So at The Underworld he asked me to run interference.' Liam shrugged, 'that was it. And I agreed. I have no idea where he went but I certainly wasn't working for him. Or for Gaia.'

'You sure about that?' I pressed, hoping to catch a flash of something—anything that would give me a hint to the man who protected his past and motives with such care.

'Very.' Liam smiled, humourlessly. 'You're thorough.' He noticed, 'and you don't give up.' Suddenly he sat up straight and moved closer to me, challenge glittering in his gaze. 'I can see why Percy likes you so much.'

I stared back unblinkingly. He didn't look away and he didn't snap. There was so much swirling around his eyes that for a moment I was overwhelmed by the overload of information. A slightly woodsy scent emitted front him and for the first time I realized that he was, to a certain extent, fairly good looking.

'If I find out...' I said slowly, 'that you _are _working for Gaia; no Pearl on this earth can save you. I'll gut you like a fish.'

If I was hoping he'd be threatened, I was in for a disappointment. His barriers came up and he leaned away, a smirk taking over his mouth. 'Honestly, I'm petrified by that.'

Gritting my teeth in frustration, I stood up, fairly certain that I hadn't quite completed my objective. But there was nothing I could do; as long as he held the Pearl, he was untouchable. Then again, he wouldn't have the Pearl forever, and that's when I would strike. No one beat me at my own game.

'By the way,' Liam called after me mockingly, 'could you send Drew in on your way out?'

I slammed the door in response.

* * *

By the time I got to Bunker 9, I'd managed to get a fairly good idea of the huge differences between the two versions of Malcolm's software. Based on that, I came up with a quick argument to make my case, hoping that that would be enough to get through to him.

I found him sitting alone at his station, staring at the wall in complete puzzlement.

'Leo—' I began but he swivelled around at the sound of my voice and cut me off gravely.

'We might have a problem.'


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Sorry; I've been gone so long. My muse forced me to work on this other story (It's called Suits" by the way, check it out if AU is your thing) so you should thank "Boo" and "GirlInThat Dress" for getting me off my lazy behind and reminding me of my priorities.**

**Also; for those of you waiting to set sail with your heroes, don't worry; it's going to happen within the next two chapters. I just have to make sure you have some information before we start the voyage properly.**

* * *

**4) It's Simply A Matter of Negotiating Correctly.**

**Leo**

It was totally not my fault that I let Anthony Webber sneak up on me. Despite the fact that most of my cabin-mates were scurrying around Bunker 9 as well, the entire chamber was so huge that I often felt happily secluded during my work. Most of the time, I lived under the impression that I was above and beyond the callings of dealing with ordinary, annoying, Romans.

I was in the process of building what was my version of a grapple gun (what can I say—Batman really inspired me) when Webber appeared silently, plonking down a pouch filled with something metallic on the scratched surface of my workstation.

Startled, I looked up. 'What the hell?'

Webber surveyed me. 'Leo Valdez.'

I raised a confused eyebrow. How often did people appear and state your name as a starter to a conversation? Lifting my feet off the table, I set my grapple gun down and sat up a little straighter.

'Yeah; that's me. What can I do you for?'

Webber's lip curled in annoyance and his eyes flitted away, up to the mammoth structure of the _Argo II _which loomed behind me. For a moment he looked briefly impressed but then he remembered he was standing next to a filthy Greek so his usual expression of disgust reappeared in record time.

'_You _built this?' He asked, the incredulity rather apparent in his tone.

'What? This?' I couldn't help the pride that was selling my chest, 'oh yeah. It was like nothing. Pfft.'

Webber digested that as he looked around, taking in every detail of my ship's awesomeness. My hands itched to get back to working on my grapple gun but even I had enough sense to know that doing so would mean the greatest disrespect for Anthony Webber. I couldn't afford to make such a mistake—not after the events of the morning.

'This is truly an impressive feat.' Webber admitted grudgingly, after a moment.

'Well,' I shrugged, my ears turning a little warm because of the underhand compliment, 'I didn't do it alone. I had my siblings and the Athena cabin to help but I mean, yeah, I _did _do the overall design so you could say—'

'Tell me,' Webber interrupted, in a tone which told me he couldn't care less about my modesty, 'how does it feel to build such a masterpiece knowing that it will fall apart in a matter of days?'

I stared at him, open-mouthed, willing myself to not go into attack mode. So what if he'd just targeted the only thing I actually cared about? So what if he'd made a slur about my intelligence? So what if... actually; screw it. I was pretty pissed off and I didn't care about toeing the line anymore.

'What d'you mean?' I demanded, not bothering to be polite.

Webber didn't look offended. 'Do you know how to run this ship, Leo Valdez?' He asked, sounding genuinely curious.

'Of _course _I do!' I exclaimed, rising to my feet. What did he think I was? Some two-bit mechanic who didn't know a nut from a bolt? 'I know how to work, and repair, _every _system on the _Argo II. _Are you forgetting that _I_ builtthis vessel?'

Webber didn't back down. 'That's not what I meant.' He stated coolly, 'this ship is not merely a machine. It is a lifeline—and it doesn't run on metal parts.'

'Okay—I have _no _idea what you just said.' I didn't care if I sounded like an idiot, but the truth was that the Romans always seemed to talk in a language that was _way _over my head. Like lawyers. Or Doctors. Idly, I wondered if his handwriting was as bad.

Webber sighed in frustration. 'The crew. Of this ship. Do _they _know how to run it as well as you do?'

I shrugged, unperturbed by his question. 'They will, soon enough. We're just running a final systems' check up—'

'I meant a chain of _command!_' Webber hissed, cutting me off. His eyes were bright with impatience and he was looking at me with an expression which was bordering between annoyance and irritation. 'Who, for example, is going to captain this ship?'

I opened my mouth but then thought better of what I was going to say (like: why don't you get lost, Webber?) because I suddenly realized that I actually didn't have an answer to his question. I mean, sure, I'd _vaguely _assumed that Jason would take control, but then Annabeth pointed out that Percy, being a Son of Poseidon would be better at the job... until Piper had reminded us that Jason had equal right to be the leader since he too had suffered acute memory loss and had been chucked across the country by Hera.

All in all, we had just let the discussion peter out, since that we had bigger problems to worry about: like, actually _building _the Argo II in time to get Percy by the summer solstice. Between surviving a quest to the Underworld (and _that _hadn't been fun at all) and convincing the Romans to join us on the cruise to Europe, I'd pretty much forgotten about the little details of who would be calling the shots on the _Argo II. _

Shrugging, and hoping my tone give nothing away by my steadily increasing anxiety, I returned to my grapple gun. 'I'm sure Percy and Jason can toss for being captain. Or maybe they can _both _be captain.' I glanced sourly at Webber, 'what's it to you anyway?'

He didn't buy my act. 'The safety of _my _people means everything to me,' he spat, 'and as senior most Centurion, I demand to be given answers.'

'You'll be given answers when I have them,' I shot back, equally annoyed, 'now get out of my Bunker.'

Webber gritted his teeth but didn't move. For a second I had half a mind to throw my screwdriver at him but then I decided to take the highroad. Ignoring him completely, I began to screw in all the various add-ons to my grapple gun in silence, occasionally reaching into my tool belt for some grease.

While my hands occupied themselves, my mind raced: how was this problem going to be fixed? Somehow I sincerely doubted having two Captains would be good for the ship. Democracy was all well and good, but what if Percy and Jason took opposing views on something? That would probably spell doom for us and turn the crew on each other. But then how could one captain just be decided? Percy, by his parentage, had the right to demand the position. Jason however, was a Roman at heart and I knew him well enough to know he didn't like seceding the primary position of authority to anyone—and most _definitely _not Percy Jackson.

'Tell your Greek friend that my debt is paid in full,' Webber said suddenly, drawing me out of my thoughts, by gesturing to the little pouch he'd plonked down on my table.

'And tell him,' Webber's tone became disgusted as he turned away, 'that the next time we fight; he better hope to his gods that we're not on opposing sides.'

And with that pleasant threat, Centurion Anthony Webber of the first cohort strode out of my bunker, kicking stray bits of machinery out of his path and leaving my head in a mess of gloomy thoughts.

* * *

Annabeth found me in the same position five minutes later. The grapple gun lay at my hand, completely forgotten while I bemoaned myself for not paying attention in Chiron's class of diplomacy. Apparently the Greeks were famous for it—sadly though, it didn't run in _my_ genetic code. This war on Gaia was becoming worse by the second. In the back of my head I wondered if the Brits and the Americans had the same problem of trusting each other; when they'd fought WWII together.

'Leo—' Annabeth started and I swivelled towards her, grasping at the chance to lay the problem on to someone else. And who better than to ask for help then Annabeth Chase? So, okay, she hadn't been around that much in the last three days while we'd run the systems' check up but I was sure that had simply been a little phase she was going through. Otherwise, I couldn't even put an actual count on the number of time's she'd solved my issues while we'd built the _Argo II._

'We might have a problem.' I cut her off and directed her to the chair beside me.

Surprisingly, she didn't look taken aback. 'Oh good,' she breathed a sigh of relief and collapsed down next to me, 'you've found glitches in the system as well?'

I narrowed my eyes at her, '_what?_'

Annabeth suddenly didn't look too keen to talk. 'Umm...' she drummed her fingers on a sheaf of papers I'd only just noticed she was carrying and looked at the ceiling far above us. 'Malcolm's computer software,' she clarified after a moment, 'and the new version he's made.'

'Not this _again._' I threw up my hands in frustration. Why couldn't Malcolm just give it a rest? His problems were completely unfounded; did he actually think I was going to let a second rate programming system destroy my ship? I'd run the checks on it myself and it had responded perfectly fine all three times.

Annabeth scowled, 'Leo you need to look at these numbers.' She thrust the bundle of papers at me but I waved her way. Did she not know I had dyslexia and ADHD? There was no way I was going to sit around and sift through all that boring stuff.

'I'm telling you,' I said in my best persuasive voice, 'Malcolm's paranoid. The ship is completely safe.'

Annabeth didn't look convinced but thankfully she let the matter drop. 'Fine.' She shrugged resignedly, but then glanced at me worriedly as though she'd only just registered my earlier comment, 'what problems are _you_ talking about, then?'

'Chain of command,' I filled her in, deciding it was best to use Webber's statement, 'do you have _any _idea who's going to Captain the _Argo II_?'

She was silent for approximately half a minute as she digested words. Then, Annabeth swore like, well, like a sailor. The irony, by the way, was not lost on me. Putting her head in her hands, she spoke, her words muffled.

'How did we miss something so important?'

I shrugged innocently, 'I know how _I_ did—I was building this ship. I'm not sure how it went past you.'

Annabeth glared at me through the gaps of her fingers. 'I had other things to worry about.'

'Like, Percy?' I offered.

She shook her head half-heartedly. Not really saying "no" but not really saying "yes" either. Girls, I thought to myself disparagingly, they really had a language of their own.

Annabeth sighed, 'we're going to have to do some research.'

'That's just great,' I muttered mutinously, 'because reading is my absolute _favourite_ hobby.'

She regarded me for her few seconds, and her grey eyes suddenly looked a little too calculating for my taste. See, I knew Annabeth: maybe not as well as her own siblings and certainly not as well as Percy Jackson but we'd worked through enough situations together for me to know when she was thinking of manipulating me. And right now, by the way her eyes had narrowed, she was _definitely _thinking of manipulating me.

'No.' I said, immediately.

Annabeth looked mildly offended, 'you haven't even heard my offer yet.'

'I don't need to,' I countered, 'the answer is still "no."'

She raised an eyebrow, 'Leo, come on. Be reasonable.'

I gritted my teeth. I knew I was going to regret _being reasonable_. That saying of "nice guys finish last" couldn't have been more apt for me at this point. But what other choices did I have? If Annabeth seemed willing to make some sort of deal, it meant she'd found a solution, which was the most necessary thing for me to focus on. Sighing to myself, and _knowing _that I was feeding myself to the lions I spread my hands in resignation.

'What's the offer?'

Annabeth smiled. 'I'll figure out how we're going to work the ship.'

'And what do you want in return?' I pursed my lips. This was worse than I'd thought it would be. If she was willing to shoulder all the responsibility for the mess we'd both gotten into, it meant that I was on thin ice indeed.

Annabeth picked up her sheaf of papers and tossed it to me. 'Recalibration,' she said firmly while I gazed at the bundle in horror, 'for Navigation, Operations and Communications.' She paused and then added, 'we start today.'

'Are you out of _your _mind?' I yelped at her.

She scowled, 'no. Run the numbers yourself. We _need_ to do this.'

'Annabeth,' I pushed the papers away in disgust and vowed to tear Malcolm apart limb by limb later on, we leave in _four _days—'

'That's why we have to start as soon as we can.' She stood up calmly, ignoring my repeated pleas for her to see sense. 'Leo, trust me, this is necessary.'

I snorted disbelievingly, though inwardly I was beginning to second guess myself a little. If _both _Malcolm and Annabeth were pushing so hard for this, it meant that they _really _didn't want to run the compatible version of the software. Maybe if I looked at the numbers, I'd find proof that recalibration wasn't necessary. Enormously relieved by the thought, I nodded to Annabeth who was watching me intently.

'Fine,' I said grudgingly, 'but how're you going to fix our other situation?'

Annabeth's gaze turned cool. 'Don't worry about it,' she told me, sauntering away and calling over her shoulder, 'I've got this.'

* * *

It was six o' clock as I was exhausted. I was alone in the bridge, (which also served as the Flight Deck when the _Argo II _was in airplane mode) surrounded by what used to be my pride and joy of the ship. Instead, the entire console lay dismantled around me, bits and pieces of machinery staring up at me forlornly. Sighing in regret, I bent down under the main level of machines and propped up a flashlight because it was so dark. Ordinarily I could've just switched on the lights of the bridge but they'd been removed to make space for the changes that had to be made.

Sliding forward under the overhanging wires on my back, I adjusted the flashlight, focusing it on one important little box that I had to take out. From underneath it looked like any other flat surface of grey metal but appearances were majorly deceptive in this case. The little box had the power to control the whole ship.

'Leo?'

Someone called out so loudly that I forgot where I was and I sat up straight, thus smacking my head nicely on the expanse of metal above me. Groaning, I pulled myself from underneath the console using the tips of my fingers and blinked away the spots in front of my eyes to see who the intruder on my bridge was.

It was Hazel. She looked at me in confusion. 'What are you doing down there?'

If it had been someone else I would have probably answered with: making pancakes honey! Would you like some? But this was Hazel Levesque, all the way from the 20th century. She didn't react to sarcasm too well.

'Fixing some stuff...' I muttered, rubbing my head.

Hazel looked suitably impressed. 'Really?' Her golden eyes seemed to glow with excitement in the darkened room, 'what kind of stuff?'

'Umm...' I hesitated, how was I supposed to explain what I was doing to an escaped soul of the last century? The first computer was designed _during _WWII and even that was after Hazel's time because of her sacrifice. Shaking the disturbing images from my head, I settled for the basic, non-descriptive version.

'There's this box,' I gestured with my hands into the dark recess I'd just vacated, 'that I have reposition. It's uh; very valuable—so I kinda have to handle it carefully.'

There. That was the best I could do. In the back of my mind, I seriously considered designing an app which could dumb down my explanations for people who didn't know their machines—i.e., everyone but the Hephaestus cabin.

Hazel nodded, comprehendingly. 'Why's the box so valuable?'

'Well...' I thought about how to respond as I dragged myself under the console again, nearly knocking my flashlight over in the process, 'you know how the brain basically controls every action of your body?'

I took her muffled response to be a "yes." Only the gods knew how far medical science had reached in the 1930's.

'This box is like the brain of the ship.' I explained, retrieving a screwdriver and setting to work. 'And to make sure no one tries to misuse it I installed several protective measures so—hey!'

Hazel had just wriggled her way into the confined space, her shoulder bumping me in the process. Her eyes were luminous as they reflected the flashlight's yellow beams. 'I couldn't hear you.' She stated quietly.

Wondering why my throat had suddenly gone dry. I resumed what I was doing. 'Right,' I cleared my throat after the silence stretched between us, 'basically this box is booby trapped in case someone tries to misuse it.'

Hazel understood. 'What kind of traps?'

I moved the flashlight a little so that she could see too and pointed to the panel I'd uncovered from its metal cage. 'See that mess of wires in there? They're surrounded by impact glass—'

'Impact glass?' Hazel interrupted, flushing slightly.

I didn't have the heart to tease her. Most people I knew didn't know what it was either, considering I'd made up the word to suit my needs when I designed it. I continued with my explanation in my usual tone, hoping it would make her feel more at ease.

'It's basically glass designed to break under specific kind of impact; in this case, when someone is deliberately trying to access the box without the proper authorization code.'

Hazel pursed her lips, taking it all in. 'What happens if the glass breaks?' She questioned, eventually.

I was silent for a moment, because I now had to begin the tedious task of moving the glass plates without breaking them. 'A highly corrosive—I mean, dangerous, acid is released into the heart of the computer.'

I stopped breathing for a second to make my hand steadier and began sliding out the plates one by one. 'Basically: it prevents the computer from functioning at all.'

'But won't that stop the ship from working completely?' Hazel seemed confused as I punched in a series of digits into the coded number pad, releasing the second set of plates for removal.

It was my turn to flush slightly. So maybe my brain analogy wasn't the greatest in explaining what exactly I'd designed. 'It's um, not quite like that...' I floundered for a moment, wondering if I could think up another parallel but my brain was so wholly occupied with that my hands were doing that it told me to give up. English had never been my best subject anyway.

'This box... is more like a _separate_ brain.' Gently, I began to clip the wires and pull them out, moving towards the glowing metal disk at the end carefully.

'If someone changes say, the course of the ship without prior approval, then the captain can key in an authorization code and use _this_ box,' I gestured with my free hand, 'to fix the course permanently to what he desires.'

Hazel was silent as I finally disconnected the entire system and placed the parts in my tool belt. The "box" as I now liked to call it, after saying the word for so long, had to be placed on the other end of the bridge to make room for the Navigation recalibrations.

'Leo; when you say "someone...' She looked at me hesitantly, 'do you mean, a Roman?'

I gulped. Trust someone from the wrong century to read between the lines when I didn't want them to. So maybe when Annabeth and I had been discussing the safety of the shape way back In January, I'd expressed concern over whether the Romans would be entirely... friendly. To counteract any scenario where a threat to the _Argo II _came from the _inside_, I'd designed the secondary control panel. That is: the box.

'Well...' I stretched out the word as much as I could, 'really: it could be _anybody. _Even the Stolls: if they wanted to you know, prank us or something...' I trailed off in the gathering silence as Hazel examined with a little too much understanding in her eyes.

She sighed, 'you really hate us Romans, don't you?'

'What?' I protested, 'no! Of course not. I mean—I like you. You're pretty awesome.'

Which of course, led us into another silence, except this time it was more uncomfortable than uneasy. I felt like smacking my head with my hand but there wasn't room enough to do it so I settled for a mental face-palm. Hazel, meanwhile, studied the dark machinery above us as though it was the most interesting thing in the world.

Deciding, I had to say _something, _I settled for naming the person who'd been the cause of all my irritation today. 'Except for Anthony Webber, I don't mind you guys at all. Webber just majorly creeps me out.'

Hazel raised a confused eyebrow, '_Centurion _Webber?' She repeated, as though she found it hard to believe, 'what do you have against him?'

I grimaced. 'Have you seen him? Webber's all like, "you're Greek. You suck. Kiss my pretty Roman behind!" It's sickening.'

Hazel laughed at my imitation, and it echoed all around us, bouncing off the various walls which enclosed us. She had a nice laugh—not too loud, not too noisy. Soft and carefree. I liked it immediately.

'You know,' she pointed out once she'd composed herself with a rather old fashioned gesture, 'I could say the same thing about Liam.'

I had to concede that the statement was above fair, but something inside me rose up to defend Liam. Sure, the guy was a jackass but he'd backed me up when everybody else had thought I was a traitor. Some debts can never be repaid properly.

'Liam just does it to antagonize people.' I shrugged, wishing that some part of what I said was true, 'I'm sure he hates everyone equally. It's his thing.'

Hazel didn't look like she believed me. Sighing, she ran her fingers down the metal plate, evidently deep in thought. Not sure if she was going to say something, I stayed silent, wrestling with the urge to bring out my arsenal of jokes I kept, to use in awkward moments. This wasn't an awkward moment really: it was actually kind of nice. Certainly the most restful moment of the day I'd had the entire day.

'Anthony's had a hard life...' Hazel muttered so quietly that I knew she was thinking aloud and not that she hadn't intended for me to hear. Still, the statement took me such surprise that immediately, I _had _to know more.

'Really? Why?'

Guilt flashed across her face. So she _had _been talking to herself. Stammering, Hazel shook her head quickly. 'I-I don't know. I've only heard rumours.'

'Oh good; rumours are the _best _kind of information.' I grinned, hoping to lighten the atmosphere. Really, what difference did it make if I knew about Webber's past or not? I sincerely doubted anything would make me feel more positively towards the guy.

Hazel hesitated for a moment; and then decided to give in. Obviously she wasn't immune to my dazzling charm. 'Anthony had a twin brother.' She began, somewhat abruptly, 'they both came to Camp Jupiter when they were 12.'

Now that was interesting indeed. I tried to imagine Webber with a twin. The same brooding looks and superior scowl when they were around people they didn't like? I bet they'd ruined a lot of people's days when they'd joined the Roman camp.

'His name was Marcus, Mark for short I think, and people say that he and Anthony were inseparable.'

'What changed?' I wanted to know.

Hazel still looked like she was committing first degree murder by telling me all this. 'Well: the brothers arrived without being claimed, and without letters of reference. That automatically relegated them to one of the lesser cohorts.'

'Bet Webber hated that.' I muttered, and surprisingly Hazel nodded.

'He did. That's why he struck a deal with the then Centurion of the First Cohort. In exchange for membership, the brothers had to be the Centurion's slave for an entire month.'

Horrified, by the thought of being someone's _slave _for an entire month, I actually gasped out loud—exactly like in the movies. 'That's a _terrible_ deal_.´ _I exclaimed, 'was it even allowed?'

Hazel looked uneasy, 'you don't understand Leo. The First Cohort is the pride of Camp Jupiter. People will sometimes... kill to get in.'

Astounded, and facing a lack of words for the first time in my life, I resorted to shaking my head. Sure, I'd always thought that Romans were a little off their crackers' but this was the height of ridiculousness. All of a sudden, I was supremely glad that I was Greek. Hephaestus was a jerk but I'd personally met Vulcan (on two occasions) and I didn't much care for him at all.

'Anyway,' Hazel cleared her throat, 'Anthony accepted the deal. He wanted the best for himself and his brother—'

'Power hungry idiot.' I muttered but Hazel continued without stopping, seeming as though she wanted to lay off the burden of the story now that she'd started.

'—but the trouble was Marcus didn't want anything to do with it.'

'_What?'_ Talk about a twist in the tale. Obviously my characterization of the other brother was a little off. Maybe Mark Webber wasn't cut from the same cloth as Anthony. _Good for him, _I thought to myself.

Hazel sighed, 'apparently Marcus wanted to join the Fifth because Jason had been the only person at Camp who'd actually welcomed him in.'

'And that didn't sit well with dear Tony?' I guessed.

Hazel nodded, 'the story goes that Anthony was beyond furious. He'd done everything in his power to safeguard his brother, and Marcus had repaid him by wanting to join... the losers.'

I winced. I'd never understood why the Fifth was always regarded with such hate. By the story it was obvious that the disfavour had started way beyond my time. Or Jason's for that matter.

'Long story short,' Hazel shrugged, 'the brothers had a huge fight and never spoke again. Anthony joined the First Cohort after fulfilling the deal and Jason stood for Marcus so he could join the Fifth.'

I frowned. Surely that wasn't the end? With chilling realization, I remembered that Hazel had started the story with "Anthony _had _a twin brother." Clearly there wasn't going to be a happy ending. Then again, I thought to myself bitterly, demigods never ever got one.

'Then... the Second Titan War began.' A hint of warning entered Hazel's voice and despite myself a shivered a little. Maybe it was my dark surroundings, or maybe it was the fact that I'd heard a lot of stories from the Greeks about the war, whichever it was, I suddenly didn't want to hear the end of this story. Hazel, however, seemed determined to tell me.

'Jason and Marcus led the Fifth to attack of the Titan Krios during the invasion of Mount Othyrus,' She informed me, her golden eyes brimming with pride, 'but somehow, both of them got separated from the others.'

I frowned. I'd never been in war myself, but surely two people didn't just let themselves be cornered by someone as powerful as a Titan? That was stupidity 101 and even though I didn't generally _like _Romans, I knew for a fact that they weren't stupid. 'How did the Fifth let that happen?' I demanded.

Hazel drummed her fingers against the machinery in frustration, 'I don't know the details. I'm telling this to you as Dakota told me.'

'Oh.' I hoped I hadn't offended her.

Tapping her nails against the metal above us, Hazel resumed the story after a few seconds of silence. 'The Fifth got caught up helping the other Cohorts against the Titan's army and when Krios was finally killed, they only found Jason alive.'

'Why?' I yelped, hating the image of a demigod being torn apart by a Titan, 'what happened to Mark?'

Hazel fixed me a strange look. 'Nobody knows.'

'Excuse me?'

She bit her lip, a gesture which told me she was back to withholding information. I resisted the urge to drill her. While I wanted nothing more than to give her the Spanish Inquisition, (har de har) I knew there was a time and place for it. For this witness, silence would be my best weapon.

Sure enough, after a minute of it, Hazel caved. 'The official version is that Marcus sacrificed himself to save Jason.' Her tone made it clear that this version of events had been declared bogus by the majority of people.

'What's wrong with it?'

Hazel tapped out a tune, wrestling with herself over the decision of telling me. As I watched her inner turmoil, I suddenly decided I really didn't want to know more. I liked Marcus Webber –even though I knew next to nothing about him– and I was afraid that whatever Hazel said next was going to shatter my mental image of him.

'Dakota told me that there was no evidence to really support the statement,' Hazel said with obvious reluctance, 'for one Marcus' body was never found.'

My eyebrows lifted, 'how come?'

Hazel shrugged, 'I don't know. They certainly searched enough.' She blew out her cheeks, 'eventually—another version of what _really _happened on that day started spreading.'

'Which was?' I didn't know why I was pressing her for information. The only plausible answer was morbid curiosity about Mark Webber's fate. The other, more real urge was that I finally got a little bit of Jason's past. For a person who I deemed a best friend, I knew surprisingly little about him.

Hazel was silent for a whole minute before she answered my question. 'Some people, I don't really know who exactly, suggested that...'

She paused, her expression turning resigned. 'They suggested that Marcus turned on Jason and tried to help Krios win.'

Another full minute of silence elapsed before I found the words to make my horror known. 'That's ridiculous!'

'Is it?' Hazel countered, 'that entire fight happened away from anyone else _but _Jason and Marcus—'

'And don't you think that Jason would have _said _something if his friend had turned on him?' I interrupted, wondering internally why I was defending Anthony Webber's twin brother. It's not like I had brothers who'd been slandered. Heck, I didn't even have a family.

Hazel mused over my words for a bit. 'When Jason heard about the rumours he was furious.' She said quietly, forcing me to change back into listening mode, 'he ordered a temple to be built in Marcus' name, as a commemoration to all those who'd died in the war.'

'So there you go.' I was triumphant. 'Why would Jason willingly praise somebody who was a traitor?'

I'd phrased the question to be rhetoric so I certainly did not expect Hazel to answer me immediately.

'For a long time, after Dakota told me I felt the same.' She agreed, her golden eyes glinting with undefined emotion, 'then the night we got back to Camp Jupiter from our quest...'

I winced. That had not been a good night. The disbelieving eyes of Reyna as we sold her our completely made up story still haunted me sometimes. That and Jason's unbridled anger when I'd finally caved and told him. The only _good_ part of that night had been when Hazel had trusted me enough to tell me the truth about her life.

'... and Frank, you and I had the fight over what to tell Reyna,' Hazel continued, oblivious to my growing discomfort, '_that's _when I understood what Jason might have done. Just like how we protected you, he might have been protecting the memory of his friend.'

I grew defensive immediately, 'hey—I did _not _turn traitor! I was just following my father's orders—'

'Leo,' Hazel broke in gently, 'I know. I, of all, people, understand the position you were pushed into.'

I was forced into silence for the third time during our conversation. But this time, it was a sort of glad silence. Of all my friends, Hazel was the only one who'd _truly _understood. Sure, Piper had tried but she hadn't succeeded. Annabeth and Percy had accepted it because it'd all worked out in the end. Jason and Frank were still, outright against ever doing the same thing. Hazel... her mother had pushed her to the same thing: to help Gaia. She knew how difficult it was to resist a parent whose love you crave. She, like me, would want to change things, given the chance.

'I've known Jason for like, half a year now,' I muttered, hoping that she wouldn't see the sudden liquid in my eyes that her acceptance had brought forward, 'and he's never mentioned Marcus. Ever.'

Hazel tactfully kept her gaze on the machinery above us. 'Maybe he doesn't like to talk about it.'

I thought about the story again and felt an immeasurable sadness well inside me. What had really happened to Marcus Webber? And how had Anthony reacted to the rumours that his brother might have been a traitor? Another disquieting thought popped into my head: this story was eerily similar to the circumstances revolving the death of the Aphrodite Cabin's Head Counsellor during the War.

Silena Beauregard. Best friend to my favourite bully, Clarisse La Rue and girlfriend to Charles Beckendorf. The guy's whose bunk I currently slept in.

Piper had told me about Drew's remarks. Everyone at Camp swore about how she'd died a hero's death... except they all got a vague look of hesitation when they talked about it. Almost as though they'd been told a lie. Almost as though they were unwittingly _protecting a memory_.

I turned to my right and found Hazel staring at me. Suddenly, all thoughts of traitors (proven or otherwise) vanished from my head. Hazel's eyes were like liquid gold: mysterious, sparkling, enrapturing. They drew me in, almost against my will. Fine, I'll admit that occasionally (occasionally mind you!) I didn't limit myself to thinking of Hazel as just a friend. Honestly, the whole situation was a little... complicated. And I'm not just talking about the whole different centuries thing.

It went deeper than that: all the way to her relationship with Frank. It was a known fact that Frank didn't like me. Whether it was because I was Greek, or because I'd sold him out (briefly) to Gaia, or the fact that he didn't like my Asian jokes, the guy looked like he wanted to kill me most of the time. I got the feeling that there was a whole lot of back story behind his resentment but he hadn't brought it up and I wasn't stupid enough to ask.

The point was that I didn't know where Hazel stood with Frank exactly. And because of that: I didn't know where she stood with me either. It was all very confusing, and most of the time I didn't think about it. I didn't deal well with emotions and the whole mess that Hazel brought with her only proved my theory correct. So, like the fine gentlemen I was, I didn't portray any of the interest I felt outwardly.

But then she cornered me in moments and like these... and what can I say? I wasn't made of stone.

'Valdez?! What the hell are you doing?'

Hazel and I both jumped apart as _another _voice (seriously: I needed to stop people walking in on me all the time) called out to me. Thankfully, I didn't drop the glass panels I was holding. Swearing under my breath, I picked up the flashlight and dragged myself out, trying my hardest to not bump shoulders with Hazel.

The unwanted visitor was Liam. And he looked _very _amused.

'You know...' he drawled in a highly suggestive tone, as we came out of our hiding place, 'there are a hundred better spots to make out in. I doubt you guys were comfortable under that big metal thing.'

Hazel and I both flushed different shades of red and started to protest at the same time.

'It wasn't—!'

'We weren't—!'

Liam held up his hands. 'Spare me the denial. My eyes don't lie.'

Cursing my luck, I shoved my hands into my pockets and tried to (discreetly) put some distance between Hazel and me. Honestly, I had enough problems without Liam tattling to Frank about what he'd just seen. And knowing Liam, it was probably the first thing on his agenda. The guy was worse than the Joker when it came to spreading chaos.

'You need something?' I glared at him.

Liam didn't look put off by my tone. 'I bumped into Webber on top deck,' he gestured with his thumbs, 'the idiot said you had my money. Just came to collect it.'

I shook my head at the derision in his voice. I didn't like Anthony Webber any more than he did, but some part of me twinged with sympathy after the story I'd just heard. I pulled out the pouch of drachmas, I'd counted out earlier and tossed it to Liam, hoping he'd just take it and leave.

He didn't of course.

'So...' Liam grinned, 'should I announce to the world that you guys are dating now?'

Hazel looked like she was going to faint. 'Please, don't!'

'Oh, of course not,' Liam agreed pleasantly, while I looked for ways to sink through the floor and go straight back to the Underworld (an idea far more appealing to me than to face the embarrassment), 'by all means, hooking up is nothing to be ashamed of.'

Liam's eyes were dancing with joy at seeing us so flustered, 'personally: I find relationships a drag.'

I think I might have died of humiliation at that point.

'No?' Liam looked mildly apologetic as he looked on at both of us, 'a pity. What I would've given to see Frank's face...' He added wistfully.

That snapped my mouth into working again, 'you wouldn't dare!'

'Wouldn't I?' Liam challenged and for a moment, I did believe that he was going to get me into big trouble. Then, his gaze softened and he looked almost... protectively at both of us. 'I suppose I wouldn't.' He sighed and glanced at me meditatively, 'considering there is _nothing _to tell is there?'

I breathed a sigh of relief. 'Exactly.'

Hazel made an odd movement at my side. 'I should go.' She said to no one in particular, 'I've kept you long enough.'

She raised a hand in shaky farewell and nearly fell over her feet in her rush to get off the bridge. I watched her go, bitterness creeping along my insides. Now there was no way on earth she'd ever talk to me when we were alone again.

'I hope you know what you're doing.' Liam said softly, gazing at me with quiet speculation.

I gritted my teeth. I'd had a fairly terrible day; I didn't seem some weirdo going all judgemental on me. 'I hope you know what _you're _doing!' I shot back, hoping that he'd read the threat in my tone and back off.

Instead, he smiled distantly. 'Oh you shouldn't worry, Valdez. I _always _know what I'm doing.'

He gave me a reassuring wink, as though to say my secret was safe with him. So, why then, did I get the feeling that he wasn't referring to the encounter we'd just had, at all?

* * *

'Leo, wake up.'

'Mmpf.' I mumbled and found that I was lying lengthwise on the steps to the Big House. How I'd managed that was beyond my comprehension. The steps were really uncomfortable.

Annabeth's concerned face loomed above me. 'Are you okay?'

'Fine.' I muttered, hastily wiping off drool from the corner of my mouth and hoping she hadn't noticed. 'What time is it?'

'Eleven thirty.' Annabeth answered, helping him up, 'sorry; I got a little delayed.'

Ah yes. I knew I hadn't chosen the steps to the Big House as a place to sleep because of the comfort it afforded. Annabeth had wanted to meet me at eleven so that she could update me of her progress. I'd come promptly on time... and had probably fallen asleep when she hadn't shown up. I didn't blame my past self: I was bone tired.

'What kept you?' I asked.

Annabeth led the way into the Big House, heading for the game room which was also the unofficial place for all important meetings to take place. Don't ask me; the tradition started way before I got to Camp.

Annabeth flicked on the lights and threw something down –a thick file and what looked like a booklet– on to the ping pong table. 'I had to go wake Jason and Percy up.' She informed me, in a tone which suggested she wished she hadn't, 'I figured they need to be kept in the loop too.'

'Nice of you.' I muttered and slumped into the closest chair.

Annabeth looked at me worriedly, 'how's the recalibration going?'

'Please.' I held up a hand, 'let's not talk about it.' I stifled a yawn and rested my forehead against the cool surface of the table, hoping to escape back to my bunk as soon as possible. I'd only just barely finished with the changes in the bridge and I was so not looking forward to tomorrow. I seriously doubted if I was going to sleep at all for the next four days. Stupid Athenian children and their nerve to always be right.

'You owe me big time, by the way.' I couldn't help but whine.

Thankfully, Annabeth didn't reply. I heard her sigh and take a chair as well. Rustling pages indicated she'd opened her file.

The door opened with a bang, startling both of us. I raised my head and watched through bleary eyes as Jason and Percy entered the room, looking as though, they too had been dragged bodily from their beds. Annabeth was a force of nature indeed if she could get two children of the Big Three to give up on rest and join, what I knew, was going to be a long boring meeting.

'Annabeth.' Jason yawned, sitting down next to me, 'can't this wait till tomorrow?'

I winced. Questioning an Athenian about her judgement was equivalent to poking a sleeping bear with a stick. One simply, did not do such foolhardy things unless one wanted his head bitten off.

Sure enough, Annabeth's expression darkened. 'No it can't.' She said in clipped tones, 'it's not my fault if I have to clear up _your_ mess.'

The atmosphere in the room changed from exhausted resignation to highly charged tension. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Jason stiffen. Percy took a seat opposite me, at Annabeth's left, his expression carefully neutral.

'I don't know what you mean.' Jason said quietly as I wondered if I could change places without anyone noticing. From the way I was placed, I was going to be caught in a crossfire soon enough, and my brain just wasn't up to the task of choosing sides.

'Don't you?' Annabeth retorted, 'tell me have either of you thought about whose going to captain the _Argo II?_'

At least I couldn't blame her for not getting straight to the point. Maybe I wasn't going to be here all night, I thought cheerily to myself, taking in Jason's and Percy's reactions to the question posed to them.

Percy, for his part, looked genuinely taken aback. Jason... not so much.

'I figured that would be something Percy and I could discuss.' He said coolly and then added in a suspiciously controlled tone, 'alone.'

Annabeth spread her hands, 'humour me.'

I caught Percy's eye. I had a feeling that he and I were thinking along the same lines: was this meeting going to descend into a brawl? If so, I was really worried about my safety.

Jason leaned back in his chair, gritting his teeth. 'Two captains. That's democratic.'

'And infinitely stupid.' Annabeth shot back.

I wilted back in my chair a little hoping that in their enthusiasm to gut each other; both of them would miss slicing me to pieces if I got out of the line of fire. Percy looked like he was debating over whether he should step in or not.

'What happens if you two disagree over something?' Annabeth asked, while Jason looked too stunned to speak. 'Or even worse,' she continued, 'get into a fight?'

'I don't think we're going to fight.' Percy ventured finally.

Annabeth glanced at him, her expression, if possible, becoming stonier. 'Really?,' she asked acidly, 'I saw how you both handled the situation this morning.'

_What happened this morning? _I wanted to ask. That was the problem with being stuck in Bunker 9 the whole day. I missed out on all the gossip around the Camp. It really sucked. I resolved to ask Piper the first chance I got: she always had the details.

Percy looked embarrassed at the mention of the mysterious incident, but Jason rallied, keeping his tone smooth.

'That was an exception,' he stated, blue eyes hardening, 'it won't happen again.'

I think even I nearly snorted at that.

'My point,' Annabeth suddenly looked infinitely tired by the argument, 'is that you're resting the success of this quest on the hope that you and Percy will get along perfectly.'

She waited a beat and then said, 'I think even you know that's unwise, Jason.'

Jason mulled over her words for a bit, evidently deciding over whether to continue arguing or to just give in. Eventually, the unsaid threat that we'd be here all night if he didn't let Annabeth get her way, resolved the issue.

'What's your solution?'

In reply, Annabeth threw the booklet she had across to him while saying, 'two captains.'

I stared at her in protest, 'didn't you _just _say—?'

'At different times.' Annabeth continued, ignoring me.

Percy cleared his throat, looking like he'd finally woken up from the sleepy daze he'd been in all this time, 'I don't understand.'

Annabeth opened her mouth to explain –thank the gods, because even I was confused out of my mind– but Jason beat her to it. He didn't look annoyed anymore, and when he looked up from the booklet that had been tossed to him, he regarded Annabeth with a glint of admiration.

'Percy and I take on the position in shifts.' He flipped through the pages once more, 'twelve hour shifts. One o' clock to one o' clock.'

I was still struggling to make sense of it, 'so for twelve hours one of you is captain—'

'And the next twelve, the other is the captain.' Annabeth nodded, 'it seemed like the most elegant solution I could find.'

While I couldn't find any fault with what she'd figured out, I couldn't help but feel a sudden sense of unease. Why did the notion of Percy and Jason playing a never ending game of pass the parcel with the (technically) most important position on the ship make me feel sick with worry?

'What happens to the other guy once he'd done with his shift?' I asked, hoping that was the cause for my concern. As soon as I said the words, however I knew that wasn't it. Something entirely different was bothering me...

Annabeth didn't look troubled by my question. If anything, her smile turned enigmatic as though she'd been waiting for someone to press her for details. 'To answer that I need to brief you guys about the chain of command on a ship.'

I rolled my eyes: even she was resorting to Webber's words.

Percy looked like he wanted to go back to sleep. Jason couldn't have look more interested. He practically trembled with excitement at the words "command."

'Go on.' He gestured, encouragingly.

'From what I've read; the crew of ship responds, at all times, to a single authority.' Annabeth said, her tone businesslike.

Jason smiled. 'The captain of the ship.'

'Correct.' Annabeth nodded, 'technically known as the Commanding Officer. However, if something were to happen to him, a second in command is also appointed, known as the Executive Officer.'

Suddenly, my brain decided to start working again and several pieces clicked into place. 'So Jason and Percy technically rotate both the CO and XO spots?'

'Yes.' Annabeth looked pleased that I'd made the connection, 'when Jason is commanding the ship, Percy takes the position directly under him and vice-versa.'

I raised my eyebrow at her: for someone who'd been given less than a day to sort out, what could have been a particularly delicate situation, she'd come up with a neat resolution. Then again, I still couldn't shake the feeling that _something _wasn't quite right...

'So the crew only answers to Percy and me?' Jason asked, sounding extremely interested. Percy meanwhile, still looked he wanted his bunk back. I couldn't blame him really.

'Not quite.' Annabeth shook her head, 'a delegation of duties will be required, which is why you'll have eight officers to assist you.'

And just when I was getting the hang of things, she'd gone and thrown me off the deep end again. Raising a tired hand, I repeated, 'officers?'

'Think of them as Centurions,' Annabeth said quickly, sensing she was losing the attention of her audience, 'they have superiority over the rest of the crew, who are also known as, sailors.'

I decided that Annabeth had watched too many naval movies as part of her research.

Percy blinked, suddenly rejoining the conversation. He didn't look too happy about the Annabeth drawing lines between the people who were going to accompany us on the quest. 'Why do we need these officers?'

Annabeth bristled under his faintly accusatory tone. 'I was coming to that,' she stated, a little too coldly in my opinion, 'the _Argo II _has to run under the System of Watch.'

Percy, Jason and I all raised puzzled eyebrows. Idly, I wondered if Annabeth had coined her own term: like how I'd made up Impact Glass. I wouldn't have put it past her. Deciding to take the heat for the other two guys, I raised my hand again.

'We have no idea what that means.'

Annabeth pinched the bridge of her tone in exasperation. 'Everyone can't stay awake to pilot the ship all the time. We devise a system and divide the duty between the crew.'

'Oh.' I said. Yeah, that made sense. It was basically like guard duty. Except in this case... people aside from me would actually be running _my _ship. I shuddered at the thought.

Percy leaned forward, 'and what has that got to do with Officers?'

'Like I said earlier,' Annabeth seemed to retreat slightly under Percy's scrutiny, 'the ship responds to a single authority—'

'Which is the captain.' Jason interjected.

Annabeth gritted her teeth, '_yes, _but the Captain doesn't always have to be on the bridge, even when he is in command. And when he isn't—'

'The Executive Officer makes the decisions?' Percy filled in.

Annabeth looked like she wanted to scream. 'The next person who interrupts me will meet the business end of my dagger.' She said dangerously. Jason and I wilted under her glare but Percy, stubbornly, held out.

'We don't need to create more authority than necessary.' He pointed out.

'Do you see yourself sitting on the bridge for twelve hours straight?' Annabeth finally snapped, 'because if you do: I'll happily scrap the Officers idea.'

An embarrassed silence descended over us. Suddenly, I was glad that I wasn't the Captain/Executive Officer of the ship. I'd never really thought about it, but boredom was going to play a very huge factor in the first leg of the quest. The _Argo II _wasn't a sailing ship: it didn't need people working on it all the time. Once the course was set, all we had to do was kick back and relax. I resolved to install a Playstation into my cabin if I got the time.

Annabeth scowled at us, 'I thought not. Which is why we have the Watch System. Five people on Watch at all time: headed by the Officer of the Watch.'

I was very tempted to hold up my hand for a question again, but I knew if I did I'd get my head chewed off, so I let Annabeth continue with her lecture.

'That way, if (gods forbid) we have a crisis, all orders originate from a single point,' Annabeth explained, 'it avoids confusion.'

Jason nodded in understanding, 'So the Captain and the XO are kind of like the Praetors to the officers' Centurions.'

'It isn't a perfect fit,' Annabeth admitted, 'but yeah, basically. Look the Captain has the final say, but if he and the XO are occupied elsewhere than the Officer on Watch has the authority to make all decisions.'

I guess it _did_ make sense. Just because Jason/Percy were in command of the ship didn't mean they had to be on the bridge all the time. The Watch basically made sure everything was running smoothly. Despite the _Argo II's _advanced technology, we couldn't leave her unattended. The Officer on Watch simply acted as the authority when Jason or Percy weren't around.

I looked at Annabeth with renewed admiration. She really thought of everything. 'So who all comprises the Watch?'

'Two people, including the officer stay on the bridge,' Annabeth counted off with her fingers, 'one person sits in Operations, one in Communications and one in the Engine Room.'

I nodded again, making a mental note to thank her for remembering to keep an eye on the Engine Room. The ships engines, while completely efficient and capable of pushing the ship to high speeds, were a little on the volatile side. That was also why I'd insisted to placing a camera in there. (Of course subsequently, I'd decided to place cameras all along the ship's interiors, but I digress.)

'So... who gets to be an officer and who doesn't?' Jason finally asked. I wasn't quite sure, but the whole notion that someone else could take his spot, seemed to trouble him a little.

Annabeth shrugged. 'That's easy. You and Percy decided four from each half of the crew—Roman and Greek.'

'We can't do that!' Percy was absolutely horrified at the suggestion.

Annabeth raised a cool eyebrow, 'why not?'

'Well, because...' Percy spluttered, looking around for words, before deciding on, 'we haven't even picked the Greek half of the crew yet.'

'I'm glad you brought that up,' Annabeth said, not sounding glad at all, 'by tomorrow morning, you and Jason better have the other twenty names ready.'

I winced when I saw Jason's expression change. The Roman in him really didn't like being told what to do. 'You can't give us an ultimatum.' He said quietly.

Annabeth met his gaze head on. 'I wouldn't have to if you guys hadn't _wasted_ the past couple of days doing nothing.'

'We were waiting for Clarisse to come back.' Percy said, raising his hands defensively.

Annabeth rolled her eyes. 'Well, she's back. So you'll have no trouble having the list ready by tomorrow.'

'Annabeth—' Percy's tone turned pleading, but I could see that she was done trying to reason with them.

'We leave in four days, Percy!' Annaebth yelled, slamming her fist down on the table and causing us all to jump.

'Four days!' She repeated, 'and in that time forty people need to learn how to operate the _Argo II. _Do you think I want to give you an ultimatum? Do you think I want to sit around and figure out how to run this ship smoothly?'

Annabeth paused, breathing heavily. 'Because I don't.' She stated coldly, 'trust me; I have way better things to do.'

I stared at the table, hoping that no one was going to ask me a question. I got where Annabeth's frustration was stemming from: the both of us had shouldered the brunt of the work when it came to building the ship. Sure, we were the only ones capable of handling it but that didn't mean it made our job any easier. I'd never even participated in a Capture the Flag contest and I'd been in Camp for six months!

But even with the solidarity I was feeling, I couldn't help but think that Annabeth was overreacting a little bit. This wasn't the Annabeth I knew: something else was bothering her and when I glanced up at her rigid face, I couldn't help but wonder what it was, since I'd _never _seen her lose her composure before.

'As to the Greek officers,' Annabeth spoke tightly, refusing to meet anyone's gaze, 'I'll make your job easier: I nominate Leo and myself as two of them.'

Percy opened his mouth to say something but thought better of it and shut his mouth. Jason, however, didn't seem to suffer from the same restraint.

'That's a little high handed, don't you think?' He asked, and I was glad to see that he wasn't taking it personally. 'I mean,' Jason glanced by way, his blue eyes wide with apology, 'not that I have anything against you guys.'

Annabeth's lips set in a grim line. 'I don't think you'll find anyone better to run the ship. You'll be an idiot to not let us take on the Watch.'

Jason, very wisely, didn't retort. Maybe he, like I, had realized that the position of an officer was far from perfect. Certainly sitting on the bridge for how many hours at a time was not one of the perks. I did, however, feel a little relieved. At least this way, no one could screw up the _Argo II's _functioning on my watch. (Pun totally intended)

'Anyway,' Annabeth took a deep breath and her anger fell away revealing her exhaustion for a moment, 'there are several other things you have to know but you can read up on them in the booklet.'

She gestured to the one in Jason's hands, 'I'll get Malcolm to print a few more: we'll have to give them to everybody.'

I caught Percy's faint scowl. Forcing down the laugh, I figured he didn't like reading much either. Well, at least I'd found a kindred spirit in that aspect, considering Piper practically devoured books... or at least when they came to Greek mythology.

'Thanks for doing this.' Jason said, suddenly, his voice ringing with sincerity.

Annabeth looked a little taken aback but what she did next confused the hell out of me. Instead of thanking Jason, she glanced, very quickly at Percy, looking as though she wanted to apologize. Percy however, was staring at the table, back to looking half asleep and so didn't meet her gaze. If he had: he would've seen the abject terror in her eyes and probably leaped to his feet, asking what was wrong. Instead, Annabeth's plea for help went unanswered.

A second later, her eyes were back to the usual grey slate.

A little shaken by what I'd seen, and telling myself that it wasn't my area to interfere, I tried to make the atmosphere a little lighter.

'Well,' I grinned, 'tomorrow's going to be a busy day, huh?'

Nobody laughed.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Well. I thought this would be nice as a celebration for the weekend.**

* * *

**5) My Nerves Get Tested.**

**Jason**

'I don't know who to choose.'

Percy whined from his corner of my bunk. I ignored him (like I had the first fifty times he'd said it) and continued to examine Leo's grapple gun with interest. The gun was like a sleeker version of standard arm greaves. I could slip it on and with a push of a button; it would fire off a line which could extend nearly fifty feet. The entire apparatus was constructed out of polished celestial bronze (which made me dislike it initially) and was strong and supple, fitting the curvature of my arm with easy grace.

I resolved to thank Leo for the late birthday present. It was pretty spectacular.

Percy shifted on my bunk again. 'Seriously, Jason, I don't know who to pick.'

I rolled my eyes and set down the grapple gun carefully; sifting through the rest of my armour to make sure it was clean and well oiled. We were setting sail early tomorrow morning and I wanted to make sure everything was in order. Outside, the sounds of campers chattering and making their way to the amphitheatre floated past.

'Jason!'

I glanced up, mildly surprised to see the look of intense frustration on Percy's face. He didn't usually lose his temper.

I shrugged innocently, 'what?'

He glared at me, 'have you been _listening_ to me at all?'

I pretended to think about it, enjoying the fact that for once I wasn't losing my temper. 'Of course I have. You don't know who to pick for the Greek officers.'

'And in normal cases,' Percy said rather exaggeratedly, 'when someone mentions a problem repeatedly, the other person is supposed to offer a _solution._'

I sighed and leaned back against the wall, eyeing Thalia's photos taped to my right. My bunk (or rather mattress) filled up the niche which my sister had cleared out during her brief stay in the Cabin. I felt a pang deep inside me: ever since I'd found out I'd had a sister –and older one at that! – I'd thought that I wouldn't have to worry about people having my back. But here I was, off on a suicide quest to lull Mother Earth back to sleep without her.

_Stupid Artemis, _I thought to myself bitterly. _And stupid gods..._ I let that thought trail off a little guiltily. A Roman was never supposed to question the wisdom of the gods.

'Jason!'

'What now?!' I snapped, annoyed that Percy was still harping about something that, in my case, had taken exactly a minute and a half to do.

Percy gritted his teeth. 'Man, how many times do I have to ask?'

'Just pick any two people!' I exclaimed, getting to my feet restlessly and took a few steps towards the door, sensing the eyes of Hippie Zeus on my back. I ignored the prickly feeling of being watched and continued to gaze out of the door. Cheery hails from the campers crisscrossed each other and the laughter from general conversation mingled into a sense of homeliness.

And across the country, Camp Jupiter was probably preparing for War Games.

I ignored the lump in my throat and tried my best to not think about Reyna. The way she'd held me just before I'd gotten back on the _Argo II... _it was almost as though she'd been pleading with me not to go. But then, she hadn't said a word about it. Simply wished me luck and made me promise to look out Frank and Hazel, whom in her opinion, were still a little green around the gills.

What with them and Piper and Leo, I had my work of looking out for people pretty much cut out for me.

The sense that I was going to fail enormously in doing what people expected of me pervaded my thoughts again. As much as I knew that I was _ready _to embark on the quest tomorrow, a not so small part of me worried that I wasn't going to be handle it. I _still _didn't have an important memory –as Reyna had flatly disagreed to fill me in the last time I tried– and that was especially worrisome because I had no doubt that it was going to play a huge role somewhere along the way.

Romans never invaded without scouting out a location properly.

And here I was, invading into the most dangerous territory possible –Neptune's realm– with not even the slightest hint of direction.

'But I can't decide between these guys!'

Percy's protest drew me out of my internal struggle, and for the first time since he'd begun complaining, I felt a little better. This was what I was supposed to do: solve the problems in front of me and not worry about what might happen. Turning to face him, I couldn't help but roll my eyes at his defeated expression.

'_Why_ are you making such a big deal about this?'

I retraced my steps and collapsed back on my bunk.

Percy rubbed his eyes tiredly. 'Because it _is _a big deal! I'm just supposed to _choose _two people—'

'—whom you trust enough to keep cool under crises and have the ability to make tough decisions.' I finished, reiterating what Annabeth had told us when we'd gone to her for help, confessing we didn't have the slightest clue as to who would make good officers and who wouldn't.

I'd found her advice pretty helpful and had no problem in finding my four candidates. Percy however had agonized for more than a day over the decision (even though he had half the work done for him since Annabeth and Leo had already been chosen.) Normally, I wouldn't have been so snappish with Percy, but we had to announce the officers in half an hour and he'd all but run out of time.

'Thanks.' Percy muttered, with obvious sarcasm.

I sighed and punched my pillow in a better shape before settling back on it. 'Fine. I'll help. Have you at least narrowed down the possibilities?'

Percy looked vaguely guilty. 'Um. Yeah.'

I narrowed my eyes at him, suspiciously. 'To how many?'

'Well...' Percy hesitated and glanced down at the paper in his hand, 'around... twelve?'

I resisted the urge to throw my pillow at him.

'I _told _you,' Percy said defensively, when he noticed my expression, 'I'm terrible at choosing people for things like this.'

_No kidding, _I thought to myself wearily. For my part, I didn't understand why Percy was going through such a mental block over the whole process. Sure choosing four (or really _two_) people above the rest of the crew wouldn't earn him any favours but his job wasn't to become best buddies with everyone. His job was to lead them. And honestly speaking, leaders didn't often make very good friends.

I would know.

Footsteps on my cabin's wooden porch interrupted the suggestions I was going to give Percy. The next second, Liam entered my cabin, looking utterly at ease as he took in the view of my angry, hippie father (unlike Percy who'd turned an interesting shade of green when he'd first walked in an hour ago.)

'What do you want?' Were the first words out of my mouth. As a rule, campers weren't allowed in cabins that didn't belong to them unless specifically invited. And I was pretty sure I hadn't invited Liam to my cabin at any point during the time at Camp.

Liam smiled sardonically. 'Nice to see you too, Captain.'

I gritted my teeth. Why was it that when Liam said the word, he made it sound like a terrible insult when in fact, I considered the title to be the highest honour ever?

Percy intervened before I could say anything. 'What _do _you want, Liam?'

'I'm here to make your job easier.' Liam announced and then looked at us expectantly as though he was waiting for applause. I made no effort to reduce the intensity of my glare. Why pretend when everyone knew that we were never going to get along? If things had gone my way, the son of Demeter wouldn't even be _part _of the quest.

Percy looked puzzled. 'How exactly?'

Liam grinned, obviously waiting for the opening. 'I heard you hadn't filled in all the spots for the officers' position.'

I groaned: just what I needed. More people confusing Percy just before he made his choice. And seriously speaking, there was no way Liam was getting the job. Annabeth had specified that we needed to pick people whom we could _trust. _Even Percy couldn't be dense enough to take the offer seriously.

Percy however, was regarding Liam carefully. 'Why do you suddenly want it?'

'Just.' Liam shrugged, a hint of arrogance discernible in his posture, 'I like telling people what to do.'

'No kidding.' I muttered.

Percy shot me a look which told me, in no uncertain terms, to keep a lid on it. I stuck my tongue out at him. What can I say? I get influenced by the company I keep.

Percy rolled his eyes at me and turned back to Liam. 'Tell me why I would want to give the position to you.'

That was more like it! Even if Percy came off, sounding like a wannabe interviewer.

Liam shrugged, 'because you _know_ I make good decisions. And I'm great under pressure.' He grinned widely, 'what can I say: I have many talents—and all of them are at your disposal.'

I snorted loudly. Oh he definitely had talents; talents for annoying people immensely that is. And I wasn't just saying that because he pissed me off regularly. I couldn't name _anyone _off the top of my head who Liam hadn't managed to antagonize in this short stay at Camp Half-Blood.

Percy gnawed at the end of his pencil for a few seconds. 'Fine,' he said suddenly, startling both Liam and me, 'you're in.'

'_What?_' I yelped, sitting up so fast that my pillow went flying.

'Thanks.' Liam nodded and then winked at me, 'see you on the Bridge, _Captain._'

I couldn't help it: I drew my sword. Before I could do any real damage with though, Liam slipped out of my cabin and Percy slammed the door shut, effectively cutting off any chances of a pursuit.

'Put that away, Jason.' Percy leaned against the door wearily.

I resisted the urge to run him through with the blade. I was beyond furious. 'Do you listen to nothing I say?' I demanded loudly, 'I keep telling you about my problems with Liam—'

'Just let me explain!' Percy held up his hands.

I think I came very close to growling when he said that. 'I _don't _want an explanation,' I hissed forcing myself to stay in one place and not get right up into his face, 'I want you to actually care about my opinion sometimes!'

'And I do!' Percy shot back, his carefully held up mask falling away to reveal intense frustration. 'And if you'd just _listen _to me; you'll understand why I gave Liam the position.'

I didn't say anything. Don't get me wrong, I had _plenty_ to say, but the atmosphere in the cabin had just turned ominous. I could feel electricity crackling at my fingertips and Percy's expression told me he was pretty near unleashing a bit of his godly side as well. The last few days had taken a huge toll on both of us and well, we were both pretty near breaking point. (Fine; maybe I was closer to it than he was.)

Percy took a deep breath. 'Think about it,' he said quietly, 'with Liam as an officer he's going to be on the Bridge for four hours nearly every day.'

'I don't see—' I began, but Percy cut me off.

'Well you should.' He snapped, 'For four hours Liam will be _right _under our noses. We'll know _exactly _what he's up to.'

Well.

That certainly put things perspective.

'Oh.' I managed.

Percy rolled his eyes. 'Look,' he said, running a hand through his hair, 'I don't trust him any more than you do, okay? We're in this together.'

I stared at the ground, a little ashamed of my outburst. Trying not to draw too much attention to myself (which was a fail really, because I was the only other person in the room) I sheathed by sword. Percy, very kindly, turned away and pretended to busy himself in organising the mess of papers on my bed (mattress.)

As he did, his hand hit one of the photographs and it came fluttering down. Percy picked it up absentmindedly but then, as his eyes went to the people in it, I saw him flinch noticeably.

I took a cautious step forward. 'You okay?'

'Fine.' Percy dropped the picture as though it'd burned his hand.

I raised an eyebrow and stuck the picture back on to the wall, reminding myself to reapply the tape before I left. My eye caught the figures in it and I saw that it was one of the rare pictures that Thalia was actually in. It was her, and Annabeth and the other sandy haired fellow, Luke, I think his name was.

Operating on a hunch, I flipped the photograph so that Percy could see it. 'Did you know this guy?'

Percy seemed unwilling to talk. 'Yeah.'

'Luke, right?'

'Right.'

I waited but he didn't say anything else. I decided to continue the conversation myself. 'You guys were close?'

'Kind of.' Percy shrugged, trying very hard to act nonchalant and failing miserably.

I studied the photograph intently. Nothing in it seemed to suggest anything dangerous; which only meant that Percy had a problem with the people in it. It definitely wasn't Thalia or Annabeth, which left the mysterious Luke. I tried my hardest to remember what I could of him, but the only thing I could dredge up was the time I'd asked Annabeth about Luke. He'd died in the war, she'd told me. And that was it. Nothing else. I did however, remember thinking that maybe, he'd been special to her.

'So...' I dragged out the word, watching Percy intently, 'what was he like?'

Percy's eyes were darting around the cabin. 'He was pretty cool.' He frowned and his shoulders relaxed a little before admitting, 'he was the first guy who made me feel welcome at Camp.'

An icy chill (which had nothing to do with Luke) ran down my spine. Why did those words sound so familiar? Suddenly, the image of Percy yelling at me in the Big House wandered into my head.

_You clearly have major trust issues. _

I shivered without meaning to. Why did these two incidents suddenly click together? They didn't seem to be connected in any way. One was about feeling welcome at Camp and another was pointing out a personal flaw of mine. They couldn't have been _more _unrelated. And yet...

'Thalia and Luke were majorly tight.' Percy informed me.

I blinked, slightly disoriented. 'Yeah?'

'Yep.' Percy eyed the picture warily, 'they ran around together for two years before finding Annabeth. Had some crazy adventures together.'

On an impulse, I folded the photograph and put it into my pocket. My sister hadn't mentioned Luke—at least not in any way that indicated that she mourned his passing. Then again, Thalia hadn't mentioned _anything_ to me of her life before the Hunters.

'Luke was a pretty big deal, huh?' I asked, sure that Percy would just shrug and change the topic.

Surprisingly, Percy answered the question. 'Yeah,' he agreed, seriously, 'Luke was a pretty big deal.'

I knew there was nothing else to say after that, without making Percy feel uncomfortable, so I let the topic drop. I was no stranger to War heroes: Camp Jupiter had had their own fair share of people who'd died in the Second Titan War but we celebrated their memories; we didn't shut up and refuse to talk about them. Then again, I reminded myself, it was probably a Greek thing to bury the past.

'So...' Percy attempted, with forced cheerfulness, 'I still have one more officer to choose.'

I groaned and flopped down on the bed.

* * *

Gripping the list in my hand tightly, I tried not to feel nervous. On the other side of the amphitheatre, forty demigods –the _Argo II's _crew– had assembled. As usual they'd divided themselves into two very distinct groups, despite the fact that for the past three days they'd worked with each other to learn how to operate the ship and all the nitty gritty things that came along with it.

Percy and I had long given up any hopes of making them friends. The only thing we cared about was to eliminate the suspicion. Hopefully, the public division of authority would help matters.

'Let's do this.' Percy muttered, next to me.

I rolled my eyes. I didn't know why _he_ was so worried, considering _I _was the one announcing all the names. (Percy apparently got stage fright—I didn't even bother contesting that claim.) I couldn't even pass off the chore to Chiron since he was refereeing the Capture the Flag happening in the woods.

So now, if people got disgruntled because they hadn't got chosen as officers, they'd direct frustration to me. If I didn't know Percy better; I'd have thought it to be a very smart political manoeuvre on his part—actually wait, I _didn't _know Percy better...

He nudged me. 'C'mon then.'

Utterly miffed that I was the one going to be taking the heat, for what I had no doubt, was going to be an unpopular decision, I walked out on to the stage. I caught Rachel's eye in the first row (she'd decided to sit in, in case any prophecy about our quest wanted to suddenly reveal itself) and she gave me an encouraging wink.

The group fell silent as I cleared my throat. Every eye swivelled on to me and I felt the weight of their expectations settle heavily. I pushed aside my remaining nerves; I was, after all, a Roman. Talking to crowds and persuading them to agree with my point was supposed to be in my genetic build up.

'Right,' I started, and then winced internally at my poor choice of words, 'as you all know: we have just a few last announcements to make before we set sail tomorrow.'

I paused, glancing around to see if the Stolls had made a joke yet. They hadn't. Everyone in the amphitheatre was silent and I could tell the mood was growing sombre. The fun and games of running amok the _Argo II _was over. Tomorrow; we were going to start, what was probably, going to be our last quest.

Feeling the mood affect me somewhat, I continued. 'I hope that by now, you guys know how the ship is going to function.'

I stopped, waiting to see if anyone was going to say "no" to that. It wasn't just a speech gambit; I was genuinely scared if the crew didn't know what was expected of them. From tomorrow, everyone's lives would be dependent on each other.

Nobody broke the silence.

'Okay then,' I felt a little better, 'so to help Percy and I maintain organization on the _Argo II, _we mentioned we'd be picking out officers.'

At the word, the attention of forty demigods sharpened considerably. They all knew what the officers stood for: Annabeth had mentioned their role very clearly in the handbook she'd printed out.

'And now,' I smiled, 'I shall be announcing them.' I glanced down at the list in my hand (though I'd already memorized it), 'when I call your name; please step up to the stage.'

Eight printed names (four in my handwriting, four in Percy's) stared back at me. Taking a calculated risk, I decided to start with the Greek ones. It was better to take the bull by the horns. I looked up and took a deep breath.

'Leo.'

As one, the whole Greek contingent cheered loudly, with the Hephaestus kids (even though there were like four of them including Leo) making the most amount of noise. Leo, grinning madly (I wondered why: considering he'd known he was going to be selected) hugged all the people that piled on to him and skipped to the stage, bowing several times to the continued applause.

I grinned at the small salute he gave me and continued.

'Annabeth.'

More cheering. Perhaps less than the previous announcement, since unlike Leo, Annabeth moved quickly to the stage, weary and grim faced. She took her place next to Leo and glanced off to her right, completely lost in thought.

I wanted to tell her to pull herself together but I forced myself to move on to the next name. There would be time enough in the next month for me to pull rank on her if necessary. I didn't have to start right away.

'Nyssa.'

I heard Jake and Shane give loud whoops of joy for their sister and I was pretty sure that Will Solace got up to give her a lingering hug. She took it all in her stride, not as effervescent as Leo but certainly not as subdued as Annabeth. Nyssa nodded (what I thought was gratefully) at me as she stood on her brother's left.

I stared at the last name left and felt a little angry. If the events in my cabin wouldn't have taken place, I was sure to have been able to persuade Percy into choosing Piper. And even if Piper didn't deserve the position, then Malcolm certainly did. The guy had designed the software for the _Argo II _singlehandedly _and_ had practically lived on the ship during the recalibration. Unfortunately, the ship's safety had to come first.

I sighed, not bothering to hide my dissatisfaction, 'and finally, Liam.'

A shocked silence followed my announcement, followed by a smattering applause as Liam got to his feet silently and made his way to the stage without a hint of expression on his face. I could feel the combined weight of Leo's, Nyssa's and Annabeth's stares bore into me, but I didn't make eye contact choosing instead to look into the audience.

I couldn't have made a worse choice.

Piper met my gaze and stared back at me –not judgementally, because I _knew _she wouldn't have even thought of wanting the position for herself–questioningly. _Are you sure about this, _her eyes asked worriedly. I blinked once, not certain if I was conveying a yes or a no. Was I sure about keeping the ship safe? Yes. Was I sure if keeping Liam under close scrutiny would help to achieving that goal? Well, not really, no.

A weighted silence had fallen after my announcement, and I hurriedly moved on to the Roman section. While I was fairly confident about the people I'd chosen, Percy hadn't reacted as positively as I'd hoped. Maybe his irritation had stemmed from the fact that I hadn't included his friends. Perhaps he'd taken it as a personal insult. I couldn't quite tell really.

But I had good reasons for not picking Frank and Hazel. They were too inexperienced and they had enough problems with being part of the Great Prophecy. Sure the same thing applied to Leo (and to a lesser degree Annabeth) but he'd practically _built _the _Argo II _on his own and Annabeth, I knew, could handle the pressure of the position.

I smiled as I called out the first name.

'Dakota.'

The Roman side, erupted into a loud roar, which I suspected, was fuelled mostly by the need to outdo the Greeks. Still, it was nice to see the amount of fist bumps he got on the way to the stage. He gave me a huge grin and took his place on my right, the traditional spot for somebody who had your back during a fight.

I tried to ignore the warm fuzzies that erupted inside me, in response to the gesture and read out the second name.

'Max.'

My reasons for choosing Max Keenan were several but it basically came down to one important point: we'd had plenty of differences in the past but the guy really had his head screwed on straight. I knew I could count on his experience and unshakable loyalty. Besides, he _was _an excellent shot and healer.

Max joined Dakota and tapped his chest twice with fist, using the signal we'd developed when we'd stormed Mount Othyrus. It didn't signify much now, but back then, it'd meant a lot. Solidarity. Honour. Allegiance.

'Bobby.'

I continued, ignoring the outraged faces of Hank and Larry when they realized they hadn't been called. Okay, so _maybe _I was playing favourites a little bit but Annabeth had specified that I had to pick people I'd trusted. And well, I definitely trusted the people from my cohort more than any others.

Bobby accepted Dakota's enthusiastic shoulder bump and Max's sedated handshake before stepping into line.

I paused on the last name. I hadn't any doubts about it per se, but let's just say I had a feeling (one of those creepy undeterminable demigodly feelings) that just _perhaps _I wasn't making the right decision. Then again, Percy hadn't raised any objection and I figured if somebody had managed to earn both our approvals then it meant they definitely deserved a place on the team.

'Anthony.'

Lots of applause greeted my announcement and I think I heard Max, Dakota and Bobby breathe a collective sigh of relief. Anthony Webber was considered the First Centurion of Camp Jupiter (kind of like the First Lady; except way cooler) because he'd held the position far longer than anyone (except, maybe me) and also had the added criteria of belonging to the First Cohort (which I, of course lacked.) If I hadn't made him an officer: it would have led to huge consequences. Romans don't take public disrespect too lightly.

Anthony nodded politely to all his well wishers (which was pretty much the entire Roman contingent except for Frank and Hazel) with the grace of someone who was used to being popular. He, too, repeated Max's gesture as he came up on the stage and joined the others.

'And that,' I said once the cheering had died down, 'concludes the appointments. From now on, these people on stage officially hold the rank of an officer. Their orders are to be followed without hesitation.' I paused and then added as an afterthought, 'any questions?'

Oddly enough two hands went up: which was two more than I expected. Annabeth had pretty covered everything in her handbook; I didn't understand what the confusion was about.

I gestured to the first one, Travis Stoll. 'What's the problem?'

Travis got to his feet, a wicked grin on his face. 'Just this, uh, Captain. What happens if two officers give me conflicting orders? Who do I listen to?'

I sighed. It _had_ been far too much to hope that the Stolls wouldn't try and play their usual tricks for at least the duration of the gathering. Exchanging a quick glance with Annabeth to see if she had anything to say (she hadn't) I tried to answer the question without snapping.

'Two officers won't give you conflicting orders, Travis.' I said, sending a glare down either line of people beside me to make sure they'd heard me loud and clear, 'they will work as a _team_ to help Percy and I decide what's best for the ship.'

Travis mulled over that for a bit. 'But what if?' He persisted.

I gritted my teeth. Already I could feel the mood worsening between the two sets of people. Clouds of suspicion were literally gathering above them and I could almost hear the mutters of campers swearing not to follow an order if it came from an officer who didn't belong to their camp.

'There will be _no_ "if" situation.' I snapped, 'but since you want an answer, you come to either Percy or me _if_ you have a problem. Which you won't.' I couldn't have stressed the last part enough.

Travis sat down, suitably cowed. I think he might have realized how damaging his supposedly joking question had become.

I turned to the other hand in the crowd and found it to be Larry. That didn't make me feel any better. He was probably going to demand an explanation as to why he wasn't picked.

I couldn't have been more wrong.

'I'm just enquiring about protocol,' he said, once I waved him to ask his question, 'is all standard etiquette of addressing a Centurion to be used for an officer as well?'

I was a little taken aback, considering I hadn't really given much thought about such a trivial thing, 'um sure.' I shrugged and then suddenly realized that the Greek had no idea what the etiquette was.

'I mean; it's not _necessary_.' I added hastily, 'but if you want to... then go ahead. By all means.'

Larry nodded seriously at my answer and sat down.

'Right, anyway...' I blew out my cheeks and looked around, aware that I had eight people still standing rather uncomfortably next to me, 'uh yeah: you guys can... go back now.'

As the group trailed back down the steps, Percy came out of his hiding spot and joined me on the stage. His gleeful expression told me that he couldn't have been happier about the fact that he'd been able to pass off the announcements to me.

I vowed to get him back in some way and turned back to the people in the crowd who were watching us in interest.

I cleared my throat (the sound gave me false confidence) and clapped my hands together.

'A couple of other things before you guys can go off to bed. First: we leave at 8 a.m. tomorrow, which _means_,' I paused and glanced meaningfully at the Greeks since they didn't really have the concept of time wired in as much as the Romans did, 'that everybody reports to the beach by seven, along with their belongings.'

A murmur of general assent followed my words. I caught a brief groan from one of the Stolls but I let it pass.

'Second,' I ticked off the mental list in my head, 'we have twenty cabins spread over two decks. Allotment of these cabins is purely on "first- come- first- serve" basis.'

More groans from the Stolls but again, I didn't say anything. In all honesty; I felt a little bad for them. If Percy hadn't told me with great conviction that they were good fighters, I would've wondered why they'd agreed to come on the quest.

'Third: picking your roommate is entirely your choice.' I paused and waited for the sighs of relief and applause to die down, 'but,' and here I stopped to make sure I wasn't blushing, 'we've decided that it would make things simpler if... people of the same gender share a cabin.'

Loud catcalls followed my remarks and I stared off into the distance resolutely. The Greeks were laughing outright and even the Romans looked a little amused. Percy shifted uncomfortably, next to me. He'd flushed bright red and was examining his shoes with a great deal of concentration.

I clapped my hands once more to make sure I had their attention. 'This isn't up for debate,' I said seriously, ignoring Travis' comments, ("man, how am I going to get with Katie now?") 'so don't come whining to us tomorrow. In fact,' I spread my hands and adopted a reasonable tone, 'just pick your roommate tonight, okay?'

The Stolls grumbled the loudest, to much encouraging from their friends but eventually even that died down. Perhaps the realization that I'd said everything I had to say and what had been, up till now, a far off concept of going to Rome/Greece was going to start in reality tomorrow, put a damper on the mood.

I regarded the campers in front of me, with a sudden sense of pride and determination. These guys –however annoying they might have been– were willing to risk their lives for a quest that didn't have very great chances of success and I was determined to do my best to keep them alive. We were going to war. _I _was leading them to war. Well, I was going to make damned sure that they came back to receive the honour that they deserved.

I glanced at Percy and he nodded at me slightly, as though he knew what I was thinking.

I took a step forward and addressed the crowd. 'Tomorrow,' I began, my voice cracking with emotion, 'we will embark on perhaps the greatest adventure ever. If we succeed, they will tell stories about us for generations.'

All the faces, Greek and Roman, turned to me, hope evident in their features.

'And if we succeed,' I repeated loudly, 'we will truly be heroes; worthy of our godly lineage. Our names will be held in revered silence. Our deeds, will be remembered with pride.'

I paused and gazed at each of them, wondering, just how long before the spell broke and they would finally understand just what exactly they'd agreed to. I sincerely hoped that none of them backed out.

'But if we don't succeed,' I unsheathed my sword and placed it, tip first into the ground and bent down on one knee, aware that the promise I was going to make would seal my fate forever, 'know that I will fight beside you till my dying breath. I will _not_ give up.'

Percy moved suddenly beside me and the next instant, he too was on his knees, imitating my posture.

'_We _will not give up.' He corrected, 'and with this oath, we pledge ourselves to you.'

Honestly speaking; the moment could have been incredibly cheesy. Percy and I could have just kneeled there forever while the others burst into laughter and told us to get a life. Ordinary teenagers would have certainly done so. But we weren't facing ordinary teenagers: we were facing demigods who'd fought for their survival since they'd been born. Who'd shouldered the burden of their legacy since they'd known who they truly were. Who'd accepted their destiny without question when they'd agreed to join our quest.

And as one, they raised their weapons, cheers reaching high into the sky as though daring the Fates themselves to try and stop them from achieving greatness.

* * *

The _Argo II _was magnificent in the morning sun. The celestial bronze exteriors gleamed so brightly that it actually hurt to look at the surface for more than a few seconds at a time. I crossed the main deck hurriedly and made for the Bridge, having already dumped my stuff in the cabin I was sharing with Leo.

The ship consisted of three decks: the main one right in front which was deceptively flat. (Three huge guns could rise to the surface and could hit a target miles away.) The Top deck was the smallest one in size and was also the highest flat surface on the ship. We'd decided to use it as a place for practicing our fighting skills during the journey.

The aft deck towards the end of the ship housed the entire sailing apparatus for the _Argo II. _To be sure, the ship was fully mechanical and ran on the most advanced navigation systems ever made. Plus it had a highly efficient engine which, used only Leo knew what, as fuel, but as demigods we couldn't be certain that Gaia didn't have it in her to make it all go _kaput _with one bat of her dirt eyelid.

Leo had assured me that his ship was safe from divine intervention thanks to the efforts of the Hecate cabin, but all the same, I was infinitely glad that the _Argo II _could convert into a sailing ship if the necessity arose.

I ran up the outside spiral staircase which led to the Bridge (it could be accessed four different ways, both internally and externally) and opened the door to find that Leo (who was on watch) and Annabeth had beaten me to my metaphorical throne room.

'Hey.'

I called, beamingly.

Neither of them answered me.

I huffed and looked out through the front windows that stretched from half way up the floor to the ceiling. Directly underneath them were the banks of monitors, all of them working busily on some godforsaken technicality of the ship that I was sure, I hadn't the slightest clue about.

Three of them, in particular was dedicated to receiving live feed from the various video cameras installed throughout the interior of the ship. I glanced at them and in one still, recognized what seemed to be Percy and Liam arguing outside a cabin door.

I grinned to myself. True to my word I'd found a way to get back at Percy for the previous night. Citing security issues, I'd persuaded him into sharing a cabin with Liam. Percy had resisted at first but thanks to my concrete reasoning, he'd eventually accepted.

And now, by the look of it, he was thoroughly regretting the decision.

'Are people still boarding?'

Leo's impatient tone broke through my enjoyment and I gazed out through the windows to see that a few people were indeed climbing on to the ship from the canoes docked beside it.

'Last boat.' I answered, and crossed over to the table where he and Annabeth were sitting. The surface of the table was a touch screen and I recognized the image being projected as a weather report from the New York Harbour Control.

I frowned when I noticed a rather ominous bit of shading curling a little way off the coast of Brazil.

'What is _that_?' I pointed with my finger, careful not to touch the screen.

Annabeth didn't seem bothered and she barely glanced at the image before returning to her calculations. 'It's a TRS.' She informed me, scribbling quickly on the sheets in front of her, 'no big deal.'

'I don't know what—'

'Tropical Rotating Storm.' Leo filled me, leaning over and tapping the table so that the image zoomed in to the familiar coastline of New York. 'It's basically a hurricane over the ocean.'

Unease bloomed inside me. Hurricanes were bad business. Already I had a mental vision of some servant of Gaia standing pointing the storm our way.

'And you guys aren't worried because...?'

I'd barely finished my question when Leo answered, his quick movements telling me that I was wearing down his patience.

'Because it's a long way off.' He said and did another rapid tapping with the pads of his fingers so that the image zoomed out and a thick purple line got superimposed on the map of the world, 'and the Weather Control predicts that it'll stay down there.'

It was apparent that I was way out of my league so I held up my hands in surrender and backed away. As I did, one of the internal doors accessing the bridge opened and Eric Rutherford –a Roman belonging to the third Cohort– walked in.

'Captain.'

He flew into a salute, obviously not expecting to see me so soon.

I was so out of touch with the practice, having not received any such treatment in my brief stay at Camp Jupiter, that for a moment I drew a complete blank. Old habits die hard though, and a second later, my hand responded of its own accord.

'Carry on, sailor.' I muttered, feeling a little self-conscious of the fact that Leo and Annabeth were in the room too.

Eric didn't seem to have any such qualms. He saluted Leo and Annabeth as well with a loud, 'Lieutenant' and took his place at the other end of the long bank of screens.

Leo shot me an amused look. 'Sorry, Captain,' he said somewhat mockingly, 'I forgot to stand at attention when you entered.'

I glared at him.

Annabeth broke in, with a weary sigh. 'It's nearly 8; tell me we're ready to leave.'

I glanced out of the windows, and to my relief, found that the main deck was cleared of all people. That meant that everyone was either below deck or at their required places.

Leo turned to Eric. 'Who else is on watch with us?'

Eric consulted the screen before him for a moment. 'Lena and Christopher' he said, naming a fellow legionaries with affection before switching over to a strictly business tone, 'with Malcolm Cavanaugh.'

Leo pursued his lips but didn't say anything else. I knew what his problem was; he didn't like the fact that a Roman was in his precious engine room. I resisted the urge to inform him that Lena was a daughter of Vulcan and therefore was more than qualified to look after Leo's machines.

'Put in your communicator.' Annabeth told me, stretching in her seat.

With a start I realized that I hadn't done the single most important thing since assuming charge on the Bridge. I slipped my hand into my pocket and brought out the communicator assigned to me. It looked like a standard Bluetooth device and was designed to make communication between the crew easier. There were five separate channels installed in case I needed to keep important people only a buzz away.

Everyone had been assigned a communicator to reduce chances of the crew playing Chinese whispers. The ship functioned on keeping everyone abreast of whatever events were happening and the communicators were the perfect solution. At any time, no matter what the crew were doing, the Communication department (and in special cases; the Bridge) could get hold of them, if they had to.

I fixed the device to my ear and thanked the Hephaestus cabin for having the foresight to line the speakers with soft cloth. At least now I wouldn't develop a sore after wearing it all day.

The speakers on the Bridge –with had nothing to do with the communicator by the way; they were used for interdepartmental communication on the ship– crackled to life and someone, Christopher I assumed because of the male voice, called over the line.

'Communications to Bridge. Come in.'

I moved to the mike but Eric beat me to it.

'This is the Bridge. Report?'

Utterly impressed by the efficiency being displayed, I leaned against the Captain's chair; a plush velvet bit of furniture which was elevated so that whoever sat on it would get a good view of whatever was in front of the ship. Right next to the chair was the fireman's pole which led to the "nest" or the lookout position.

Opposite the chair was the helm (big steering wheel) which was there for entirely ceremonial purposes. I mean, I was pretty sure it _could_ function if someone used but the modern navigation software on the ship rendered it all but useless. Leo had only put it in because it'd been in his original drawing. It was locked into the course we'd decided on.

Meanwhile, Eric was still continuing the conversation with Christopher.

'... fully operational.' He said and glanced at Leo and Annabeth, whose heads were bent over the table with the world map on its screen, 'standby for orders.'

Correctly interpreting Eric's hesitation, I approached both of them and asked the question which possibly the whole ship was awaiting the answer for. 'Are we ready to sail?'

Annabeth moved to another and switched on the screen. 'Weather's holding,' she informed me, 'and the harbour's occupied with some huge container ship coming in.' She looked at Leo, 'we're good to go.'

Leo nodded once and then spoke to the switched on the recording device which would keep an official track of whatever happened on the Bridge.

'Engine capacity at thirty percent and rising.' He made a small scratch on his sheaf of notes, 'RADAR and SONAR are online and navigation systems are fully operational.'

Leo heaved a nervous sigh and looked at me. 'At your word, Captain.'

Anxiously, I picked up the detachable microphone from the overhanging compartment and switched it on. At that moment, speakers throughout the ship; in hallways, cabins, recreational rooms and outside decks would broadcast the message I was about to deliver. It was honestly a little scary.

Telling myself that I was being completely ridiculous, I depressed the "talk" button and spoke, keeping my voice calm.

'This is your Captain speaking,' I began, warming somewhat to my theme, 'it is 0800 hours and we are ready to begin our voyage. Crew to positions.'

I let go of the switch and replaced the mike to its holder with a relieved sigh. Just as I did, a deep vibration rose up from the insides of the ship and a low hum pervaded the air. I heard someone –Lena I supposed– squawk at once in Leo's ear but he didn't look worried as he heard the message.

Relaxing slightly, I sat down on the Captain's chair and watched as Butch raced across the main deck with two flags tucked under his arm. In the next moment, he had them unfurled and was doing –what looked like– a complicated chicken dance.

As stupid as it seemed; I remembered that he was signalling Camp Half-blood that we were ready to depart.

Leo turned to me. 'Anchor's up.'

I grinned at him and leaned back in my chair, savouring the softness.

'Take her away, Lieutenant.'

* * *

So sitting at the head of a ship as it sailed into the unknown had got to be the coolest thing _ever_. If I had one word to describe the _Argo II _it had to be: majestic. Even though I was sitting inside her, I couldn't help but we awed at the way she cut through the sea so effortlessly.

Since there wasn't much for me to do (Leo was content with making some odd little gadget from the stuff in his tool belt, Eric wasn't much of a conversationalist and Annabeth had left after the first half hour because it wasn't her watch) I took to gazing out of the windows for long periods of time. After the last few tiring days; it was incredibly restful to just sit and think.

The large array of computer screens periodically pinged as they spilled out new technical updates about the ship's status. I didn't really know what they said –as most of it was just bits of foreign numbers– but Leo would read them and let out satisfied sounds, so I presumed all was well. Eric kept his gaze on the screen unwaveringly, not even looking up when a couple of Romans decided to play tug of war on the main deck.

I had half a mind to make them move (there was dangerous equipment under their feet after all) but they proved to be a welcome source of amusement so I let them stay.

About an hour into the cruise –and just when I was on the verge of drifting off to sleep– Eric stirred and looked around worriedly.

'Uh, Captain?'

The slight hesitation in his tone jerked me awake. Sitting up and blinking rapidly, I did a quick stretch.

'What's the problem?'

By this time Leo, too, had been distracted from his toy helicopter. He cocked a puzzled eyebrow at me and I shrugged, sliding out of my chair and joining Eric at his console.

Eric's expression was a mix of nervousness and embarrassment. 'It's just...' he gestured to his screen which turned out to be the RADAR station, 'I saw a blip on this a few times. It could be coincidence but...' he trailed off, obviously unsure about how to continue.

I concentrated on the screen in front of him, but nothing out of the ordinary showed up. I glanced out of the glass windows in front of me—which was kind of an idiotic move because the RADAR couldn't have missed anything that my eyes saw. Except maybe for mythological creatures...

I turned to Leo who hadn't moved from his place. 'Just a question, but what happens if a sea monster sneaks up on us?'

Leo looked offended. 'It can't happen.'

'Why not?'

He shrugged and got up, meandering towards me. 'Because I wired the RADAR specifically. Nothing nasty can beat that baby.'

I frowned and looked back at the green image in front of me. It was, admittedly clear of anything. I raised my eyebrow at Eric. 'You're _sure _you saw something.'

Eric looked defensive. 'Yes!' He said insistently, 'it always popped up on the edges... as though it was following us or something.'

'That isn't possible.' Leo snorted, 'if it was hostile; then Ops would have picked it up.' He said, referring to the Operations department of the ship which dealt with weapons; both ours and any that were aimed at us.

'So maybe it isn't hostile.' I shrugged, thinking about the heavy sea traffic we were bound to encounter on our trip. It wasn't as though we were sailing through mythical waters. Unfortunately, the _Argo II _had to share space with its less awesome relatives too.

Leo didn't buy that explanation either. 'I've filed in all the ships routes close to us and programmed the RADAR to ignore it unless we're on a collision course with them. He crossed his arms and frowned at Eric, 'you must've been imagining things.'

Eric flushed at the accusation. 'I saw it three times!' He turned to me pleadingly, 'honestly Captain; something is definitely tailing us.'

I would've been stuck in the metaphorical place between a rock and a hard place but right at the moment when I was considering questioning Leo again, the RADAR beeped warningly, startling all of us.

I took in the large dot on the screen surface and nearly had a heart attack when I saw how close it was to us.

Eric looked positively victorious. 'See!' He gestured to the dot which blinking with radio wave the ship sent out, 'I told you so.'

Leo paled considerably. 'That shouldn't be there.'

'What _is _it?' I demanded, not caring who'd turned out to be right. Some _dot _looked like it was only a mile behind my ship and I was having major issues about it.

Leo ran back to the table without answering me and I followed him, after telling Eric to keep track of the dot (which still hadn't disappeared by the way.) Leo got to the table and switched it back over to touch screen mode, his fingers flying over the screen to make a huge image pop up. A couple of seconds later and it zoomed in so fast that I had nearly had a headspin.

Leo stared at the table top for exactly two seconds, before swearing very loudly in Greek.

'What?' I asked, tried of repeating myself to continued silence.

He gestured to something on the screen. See for yourself.'

Obligingly, I bent down to get a closer look. For a moment, I got distracted by the sheer alienness of what I was looking at—since when did satellite images look like abstract art? However, my brain connected the dots soon enough and for a moment I had to consciously force myself to not throw up.

'Is that...?' My words abandoned me but Leo finished the sentence for me helpfully.

'A U.S. Navy submarine? Yes.'

A tense silence followed his words. A bank of flashing monitor lights broke it and I heard an artificial feminine voice say, 'proximity warning" hostile alert.' Before I had a chance to ask Leo what in the world _that _meant the speakers on the Bridge crackled to life and Christopher's anxious voice came over the line.

'Communications to Bridge. Come in.'

Eric jumped at the mike. 'This is the Bridge. Report?'

Chris hesitated over the speakers and a hiss of static hit my ears as he probably breathed out. 'Is the Captain there?'

I took over the mike without wasting a moment. 'Problem, sailor?'

Chris' voice seemed barely controlled as he spoke next. 'We just received a radio transmission from _USS Swordfish_, sir.'

My hands trembled slightly, 'what did it say?'

'It's identified us as a foreign warship still in United States territorial waters, sir.'

Leo looked outraged at the very thought of being something else except for American. 'But we aren't!'

I ignored him. Only the gods knew what the mortals on the vessel were seeing through the Mist, and knowing their close mindedness, it would be impossible to convince them of anything otherwise.

'Anything else, Chris?'

I devoutly hoped that that was it and the Navy assumed we were under diplomatic immunity. Of course, I should've known by then that I was a demigod and very rarely had any luck with such matters.

'Uh, yes sir.' Chris hesitated for a second before continuing, 'it also says that we have exactly five minutes to come to a standstill.'

I gulped, hearing the unspoken words at the end of his sentence. 'Or else?'

'Or else they're going to blow us out of the water.'

Chris informed me and then added as an afterthought, 'sir.'

* * *

**A/N: And that's (arguably) the first cliffhanger of the story. It was pretty fun to write. Don't forget to review!**


	6. Chapter 6

**6) Baby Blue Is Not For Me.**

**Jason-II.**

Leo and I stared at each other. His face suddenly looked a hundred years old and I was close enough to see that his pupils were dilated with abject fear. My hands were shaking as well and I only just managed to not knock the mike of its stand. Eric stood beside me, and even though I couldn't see his expression, I could tell by his gasp that he wasn't entirely unaffected by Chris' announcement either.

'What do we do?' Leo whispered.

His words pushed away the fear that was slowly engulfing me and reminded me that as Captain of the ship, I had to pull myself together. Sorting through the various questions in my head, I made space for the ones which would help the most.

'Can the _Argo II _withstand a torpedo strike?'

Leo's expression wasn't very reassuring. 'I don't know,' he admitted, 'I certainly didn't design it for that purpose.'

I nodded, moving on to the next option available for me. 'How fast can this ship go? Can we outrun the submarine?'

Again, Leo hesitated. 'I'd say top speed is about 50 knots.' He informed me, referring easily to the nautical measure of speed (one knot = 1.15 miles per hour) 'but we need time to get up to that. The engine is pretty volatile.'

'How much time?' I asked, glancing at Eric who'd gone back to his station and was staring at the RADAR hypnotically. I hoped he wasn't going to crack under the pressure; that wouldn't do us any good at all.

Leo made some quick calculations on his hand using the nearest marker he could get hold of. 'Fifteen minutes,' he said, and my heart sank. We didn't have _five_ minutes let alone fifteen. Though I didn't have a watch on, I was pretty sure that our deadline was coming pretty close.

'If I rush it I can make it ten.' Leo told me, trying very hard to offer a little assistance.

'Rush it.' I said curtly.

The speakers crackled again, causing both me and Eric to jump. So maybe I wasn't as all together as I hoped to be. Then again, some seriously powerful submarine fellows were attempting to blow me to bits, so I had full justification for being a little on edge.

'Captain?' Chris asked, hesitantly.

'What?'

I grabbed the mike, hoping that another message, saying that our five minutes had been revised to two, hadn't come in. I needed time to figure something out. Couldn't they at least play along a little bit?

'Do you want me to reply to _USS Swordfish_?'

'No.' I said immediately. Replying would mean that we'd acknowledged the message. Acknowledging the message meant that we, as an entity, actually _existed. _Call me optimistic, but I was still hoping that whoever had spotted us on that submarine would succumb to the Mist and realize that what they thought was a foreign warship was actually a floating log or something.

'Just tell me if they send another transmission, okay?' I said, and turned away. By my internal clock I'd just lost a minute by doing nothing useful except for realizing what _weren't_ solutions to the situation we were now in. Well, Romans had this saying: if you don't know what to do, then attack. It wasn't the greatest of advice, but it'd worked surprisingly well for me in the past.

'Eric?' I called, the hints of a plan already formulating in my head.

He looked at me hopefully, 'yes, sir?'

I smiled just a little bit. Time for the Captain in me to really start calling the shots. 'Hit the General Quarters button for me, would you?'

* * *

"General Quarters" for those of you who don't know is a _really _loud alarm which blares through the ship to alert the crew to imminent danger or to prepare the ship for attack. It's basically a ship going into DEFCON 1. Everyone on board the ship has a GQ position and when the alarm sounds, they have to stop and stow whatever they're doing and report to wherever necessary.

We'd done a couple of GQ drills so I wasn't too worried about the crew being confused. What I _was _worried about was that they'd think it was only some sort of drill and the guys –especially the ones sleeping– wouldn't roll out of bed immediately. (Though how _anyone _could sleep through the klaxon alarm was beyond me.)

Eric, however, put my mind at ease soon enough. Right after hitting the alarm button (and causing the wailing to start) he grabbed the Captain's microphone which would project his voice all over the ship.

'This is not a drill, this is not a drill' he began, betraying none of the panic he must have been feeling, 'General Quarters, General Quarters. All hands to Battle Stations.'

He held off the "talk" button for a few seconds and repeated the message, feeling the need to raise his voice after the siren reached its zenith and continued to scream, rather mercilessly, in our ears.

I could already imagine the chaos happening around the ship as people dropped whatever they were doing and ran around like headless chickens. I did hope that their training would kick in soon enough and they reported to their stations. If I was going to go through with my plan, I needed all hands (not literally) on deck.

The internal door to the Bridge pounded open and I had to jump out of the way to accommodate the sudden rush of people who were filling in. Percy and Annabeth were in the lead.

'What the hell is happening?' Percy demanded, as soon as he was through the door.

I expected the others to join in with questions as well but Annabeth walked straight past me and joined Leo at his table without another word. The three other crew members –all whose GQ positions were on the Bridge– jumped into chairs and started switching on their screens, displaying a hitherto unsuspected level of maturity from their contained actions.

Deciding I could fill in everybody at the same time, I picked up the Captain's microphone and ran through what I was going to say briefly. There no use inducing mass panic by giving the crew the unvarnished truth. Just because _I _knew the precarious position the _Argo II _was in didn't mean I had to freak everyone else out as well.

I took a deep breath. 'This is your Captain speaking,' I couldn't help but glance at Percy as I said the words, half expecting him to wrench the mike from my hands and assume command of the ship, 'we are currently engaged in hostilities with _USS Swordfish_; a naval submarine under the assumption that we are a foreign warship operating in United States waters.'

I paused, and took a quick peek at the bank of cameras to see if anybody had started to panic yet. The reassuring sight of my grim faced crew stared back at me. Clearly; all that training hadn't gone to waste.

'Hopefully, we will be able to clear the misunderstanding without resorting to arms,' I winced a little at the bald lie but soldiered on before anyone caught me, 'till then: standby for further orders.'

I barely got to put the microphone down when Percy pounced on me.

'How did they manage to sneak up on us?' He asked agitatedly, glancing repeatedly to the RADAR screen which was still showing off the dot that represented the naval submarine tailing us.

As I didn't know the answer to that, I didn't say anything but Leo spoke up from his table, for the benefit of the entire Bridge.

'Just accessed a few records,' He gestured to the table in front of him, his movements slightly defensive since his skill was being called into question, '_Swordfish _is one of those modern stealth submarines. I didn't design the _Argo II _with them in mind, hell...' he drummed his fingers on his lap, 'I didn't expect them to catch sight of us in the first place.'

Percy didn't look satisfied. 'Doesn't change the fact that they're threatening us right now!'

'Hey, we did everything to make sure our departure was unobtrusive!' Annabeth joined the conversation, coming unexpectedly to Leo's aid, 'it isn't our fault if the Captain of the submarine is especially strong minded.'

I managed to intervene before the argument deteriorated any further.

'Blaming each other isn't going to help.' I said loudly, drowning out whatever Percy was going to say, 'the fact is in less than three minutes we're going to get hit. Suggestions are welcome at this point.'

A heavy silence followed my words—something I knew would happen. Resigning myself to going ahead with my (admittedly distasteful) plan, I moved forward to the bank of monitors. Annabeth's question interrupted me from going any farther.

'Who's sitting in Ops right now?'

She asked, once again, displaying her unique ability to air the question to the whole room without making eye contact with anyone in it.

Eric was the first to react. 'Lieutenant Dakota's in there along with two others and the guy on watch—Malcolm.'

It was customary during a GQ alert to redistribute the ship's crew so that the important departments were under the eye of a suitably senior person. For example, Leo's usual place during a threat would have been down in the Engine Room but since he was on watch, that job fell to the next best person: Nyssa.

Annabeth flicked a switch in front of her. 'Bridge to Operations, come in.'

Dakota's familiar voice crackled over the speakers. 'This is Ops. Orders?'

Annabeth ignored the question. 'Put Malcolm online.'

A couple of seconds of silence past as people changed positions in the Operations department. Unsure of what Annabeth was playing at, I shifted on my feet, uncomfortably aware that our precious time was slowly but surely draining away.

'Malcolm here.'

Annabeth barely gave him time to acknowledge his presence before diving into a question. 'How soon can you hack into the submarine's command structure?'

An amazed silence (on my part) followed the question. Sure, I'd known that Malcolm was a whiz kid when it came to computers but I'd had no idea that his capabilities stretched so far. Clearly it paid to have Annabeth on the Bridge when the ship went into a crisis.

Malcolm deliberated for a second. 'I don't know their set up,' he said finally, 'but I need at least five minutes.'

'We don't have that much time.' I said, throwing a glance to one of the windows in front of me (which also converted to a digital screen if the need arose), where one of the crew had kindly put a luminous countdown to the deadline the Navy had given us. According to the green numbers; we had little less than three minutes before we got blown sky high.

Annabeth gritted her teeth. 'Can't you work any faster Malcolm?'

'I'm not a magician Annabeth!' Her brother yelped, 'look; if we survive the first attack; then I can guarantee you that there won't be a second.'

'_If _we survive the first attack.' I couldn't help but say.

Annabeth shot me a dirty look but turned her attention back to the speakers. 'Do it,' she ordered her brother, 'and do it as fast as you can.'

A shrill beeping interrupted her words and another image floated up on to the window in front. It was the same colour as the countdown clock (luminous green) and showed a scaled down, two dimensional version of the _Argo II _as seen from on top. The entire left side of the ship was flashing a brilliant red.

'What in the world—?' Percy started to wonder but Dakota's gruff voice came over the speakers and answered the question.

'_Swordfish's_ locked on to us.' Dakota said, a slight undercurrent of fear evident by the way he clipped the end of the sentence, 'judging by the sensors, the torpedo's will swing around and hit our port side.'

I turned to Leo immediately, 'damage assessment?'

He exchanged a quick glance with Annabeth.

'Hopefully it won't penetrate the celestial bronze plating.'

'But if it does?' I wanted to know.

Leo's face drained of all colour. 'Then we're looking at six compartments flooding, plus...' he hesitated, and dropped the marker he was holding because of his nervousness, 'plus we'll start leaking fuel.'

I'd heard enough.

Sidestepping Annabeth, I hit the switch and brought Operations back up on the speakers.

'Bridge to Operations. Come in.'

Dakota answered immediately, almost as though he'd known what was going through my head. 'This is Ops. Orders?'

'Prepare our underwater missiles for launch immediately.' I said, hating the words that were coming out of my mouth even as I spoke them. The _Argo II _was equipped with a variety of weapons, but Leo's pride and joy were the cylindrical shaped projectiles that contained a dangerous mix of Greek fire and hydrogen. Whatever it hit, was sure to burn to ashes within minutes. That much, was a guarantee.

A blank silence (both on the Bridge and over the speakers) followed my words.

The line crackled with static. 'Sir?' Dakota questioned, anxiously, 'you want me to do _what_?'

'You heard me Lieutenant.' I bit back, trying to remind myself that Dakota wasn't questioning my authority; just my sanity. This view was apparently universal, because Percy soon found his tongue to air his (loud) objections.

'Jason...' He spluttered, as though he couldn't believe what I'd just said, 'you can't—_we _can't just—!'

'"When in doubt of what to do; attack."' I quoted, keeping the microphone on so that Dakota heard me and remembered Lupa's refrain. 'And right now,' I continued, ignoring Leo's wide eyed gaze, 'we don't have any other option left.'

Annabeth flinched. 'But... they're mortals.'

I bit the inside of my lip to keep myself calm. Didn't they think that I knew that too? Didn't they know that I didn't want to resort to something so horrendous either? Were they really questioning _my _value for human life? After everything I'd done to keep Piper's dad safe? After the months I'd spent agonizing over my mother's fate?

Percy, meanwhile, was shaking his head. 'This can't happen,' he stated loudly, 'we must have some other option—'

'I'm willing to listen if you do.' I interrupted loudly.

Percy blanched, and for a moment, I genuinely hoped that he'd found another way. As soon as I gave the order for the missile to be released; there wasn't going to be any hope left for the crew of _USS Swordfish. _

Sudden interest flashed in Percy's green eyes. 'What if we got Piper to talk to them?' He said quickly, nearly tripping over the words in his enthusiasm to get them out, 'she could charmspeak them into leaving us alone.'

I opened my mouth to explain, but Annabeth beat me to it.

'They aren't going to engage us in an actual conversation.' She said wearily, her eyes looking like spheres of grey slate, 'that would be extremely stupid, not to mention unlawful, of them.'

Percy didn't seem to want to give up. 'But the message we received?' He looked almost desperate as he turned back to me, 'we received a message, right?'

'A radio transmission.' I corrected him, 'they probably sent it across on a universal wavelength and Comm. picked it up.'

A heavy silence followed my words and Percy opened his mouth and closed it (very much like a fish) as he attempted to find another argument. I would've wanted nothing more to give him more time to think of a solution but unfortunately, by the green clock dancing in front of my eyes, I now had little more than two minutes to save my ship.

Dakota's voice broke the silence. 'Target locked on and missiles ready for deployment, Captain.' He paused and sighed audibly, conveying the fact that he didn't approve of what I was doing one bit, 'at your command.'

The clock on the screen flashed red and the artificial feminine voice followed:

'Two minute to impact.'

I steeled myself and glanced at Leo. 'As soon as we fire, we need to move as fast as we can.'

No Roman ran from a fight unless he had good cause. And I had very good cause. The US Navy would definitely miss the fact that a submarine of theirs –a stealth one at that– was missing once _Swordfish _didn't check in. When that happened, and it would soon enough, we would have the entire fleet looking for us. The _Argo II _was equipped to deal with one modern killing machine, not twenty.

Leo nodded dejectedly, 'the engine's are beginning to prime. We can open her up gradually.'

There was nothing more to say. I moved my hand to the bank of monitors designed to launch the weapons on board. I could have just as easily ordered Dakota to hit the switch (because honestly, that's all I had to do) but I was the Captain of the ship. It was my responsibility and I wouldn't let the blood of the innocent crew stain anybody else's hands.

Percy caught my arm, stopping me in my tracks. 'Jason,' he pleaded, looking as though his own mother was on board the submarine, 'you can't do this.'

His words nearly opened up a whole mess of indecision inside my, but I very wisely pushed away all the sentiment before it could get to me and start affecting my decision process.

'Move, Percy.' I said roughly, shoving him out of the way.

The infuriating thing about having somebody take on the Curse of Achilles is that they automatically become much stronger than you. Percy stepped back a single step –perhaps in shock– but after that he was as immovable as a mountain.

'I'm not going to let you _kill _innocent people!' He growled, and automatically the hairs on the back of my neck began to stand, responding to the danger.

I tried to ignore him. 'Get out of my way.'

'No!' Percy resisted stubbornly, and much to my horror, clamped a hand down on my arm, pinning it to my side, 'I'm not going to let you do this!'

I struggled against his vice-like grip, 'Let go of me you idiot—'

'Ninety seconds to impact.'

The cool, emotionless voice of the ship's computers cut in.

That did it for me. Till now; I'd decided to stoically bear all the bad blood that came my way. I didn't expect anyone else to understand my mentality. Killing innocent people was something nobody could contend with. But I knew of term called _collateral damage. _Did I like it? Most definitely not. If I had an option, would I have wanted to avoid it? Without a doubt. _Did _I have an option?

No.

'You think I _want _to do this?' I half yelled, managing (finally) to shake Percy off by using the bank of monitors as leverage.

Percy stumbled but caught himself. 'Then why are you?' He demanded furiously.

'Because we don't _have _any other option!'

'We always have an option!' Percy yelped, 'the torpedo isn't going to destroy us Jason; and we can take the damage—'

'_Can _we?' I countered, painfully aware of the precious seconds sliding away, 'what happens if we start leaking fuel? What happens if that fuel decides to combust?'

Percy didn't let it go. 'None of this justifies the act of _murdering _a hundred people.'

'I didn't say it did!' I exclaimed, directing my words around the Bridge, suddenly wanting them to understand. 'Don't you see; I am the Captain of this ship. Its safety is my utmost priority.'

'Even over the safety of the mortals?' Percy questioned, looking slightly sick as though my words had poisoned him.

His judgemental gaze ignited a flare of resentment inside me. Oh, it was all very well to play the hero but this quest was going to be hard enough without having to let our _only _mode of viable transport be blown to bits because of some mortals who were (admittedly) in the wrong place at the wrong time. I was committed to the fulfilment of the prophecy and –therefore– the safety of my ship. I couldn't just throw it all away because of some interfering men.

'I will do what I have to.' I said quietly, internally wincing when I glanced at the clock and found we had little more than a minute now, 'because our war, is sadly, more important than their lives.' I paused a beat and glared at Percy, 'now get out of my way, Commander.'

A long immeasurable moment of silence passed (I would later find out that it cost me another five seconds) before Percy, with a defeated sigh, let go of me. Ignoring the stricken looks on everybody else's faces, I opened the plastic cap covering the bright red switch which spelled the doom of _USS Swordfish_.

'Wait...' Percy said hoarsely, 'what if I gave you an alternative which doesn't involve killing them?'

The bright hope was burning in him again, and its intensity caused me to waver for a second. My fingers grazed the button but didn't press it. The clock flashed a bright green and the ship's computer voice announced we now had exactly one minute left.

'Fine,' I gritted my teeth, hoping this argument would be over quick, 'what is it?'

In answer, Percy did the most unimaginable thing possible:

He ripped off his shirt.

Had this have happened at _any _other moment, it would have probably been the funniest thing ever. How often has somebody undressed with a vengeance in front of you?

'Uh,' Leo stood up slowly and backed away as though he was retreating from a dangerous animal, 'is he cracking under the pressure?'

Leo's fairly calm question was at complete odds with the urgent flashing of all the devices on board the bridge. The clock in particular was bleeping pleadingly as it told me I'd lost another five seconds.

'What the hell are you _doing_?' I demanded, when Percy didn't show any signs of stopping by kicking off his sneakers to reveal bright orange socks—which I found a little distracting.

Percy took off his watch and threw it to Eric. 'Providing you an alternative.' He reminded me, and then to my horror, started undoing his jeans.

'Wait,' I held up my hands desperately, 'I don't understand—'

But Annabeth, apparently, had her thinking hat on because the next second she was at my side, holding out her hands in a sort of futile attempt to make Percy stop.

'No!' She said loudly, and shuffled forward a few more steps, thereby becoming the closest she'd been to Percy all day, 'Percy; stop. You aren't going to do this.'

Percy _didn't _stop. 'It's like Jason said,' he threw me a resolute glance as he stepped out of his jeans quite unashamedly, 'we don't _have _any other option.'

I'd like to think that it was Percy's baby blue boxers that completely stalled my thought process for a few more seconds than necessary, but I managed to connect the dots soon enough. Horror seizing me, I stepped forward as well, so that I was abreast with Annabeth.

'You aren't doing this!' I exclaimed, repeating her words as well.

Percy didn't look fazed. 'You can't stop me.'

Annabeth made an odd sort of movement, almost as though she wanted to reach out and touch her boyfriend but had stopped herself at the last second. 'This is suicide,' she said urgently, 'Percy—what if you won't survive?'

'I'll be fine.' Percy brushed off her concern dismissively as he turned to the door of the Bridge, 'I'm a Son of Poseidon with the Curse of Achilles. Nothing's going to happen to me.'

Leo waved his hands from his spot. 'Excuse me,' he coughed exaggeratedly, 'but what _are _you going to do exactly?'

Percy smiled, scaring me a little. What sort of man smiles as he walks off into the gallows?

'I'm going into the water,' he indicated calmly with one hand, 'and I'm going to punch those torpedoes out before they hit the ship.'

A nasty silence followed his words, broken by the cool feminine voice which, despite its unemotional tone, managed to convey warning.

'Forty seconds to impact.'

Part of me –and I will confess it was the huge, hopeful part– wanted to hug Percy and wish him luck. It was a brilliant solution: after all Percy _did _have the Curse of Achilles, so it made him pretty much invulnerable, right? And being in the sea, would add to his already formidable powers. The plan wasn't something which had great chances of success, and it was wild and unconventional, but anything was better than condemning an oblivious crew to die.

But then; Annabeth changed all that.

'What happens if you get hit in your Achilles spot?' She demanded, rocking back and forth on her heels slightly, 'what happens if the torpedo blows up and you _die?_'

Percy's confidence wavered slightly. 'I'll be fine.' He muttered again, reflexively.

'No you won't, you idiot!' Annabeth yelled, losing her cool for perhaps the only time in front of me. 'This isn't some sort of game that you can just—'

'Thirty seconds to impact.'

The ship's voice reminded us considerately, causing whatever Annabeth to swallow whatever else she was going to say. She turned to me, her eyes bright with anger and unshed tears.

'Hit the button, Jason.' She stated coldly.

Percy looked like she'd just punched him in the stomach. 'Are you _joking_?' He yelped, taking a step forward and causing both me and Annabeth to back away, 'you're not killing those mortals when I—'

'When you do _nothing_.' I cut in, smoothly, sure that there was a spot reserved in Hades just for the decision I was going to make. 'No don't argue,' I said quickly as Percy opened his mouth, 'you're too valuable to go jumping around into the sea.'

Percy glared at me. 'I don't care what you say; I'm going.' He turned, already heading for the door.

'Percy!' I stopped him, hating the fact that I had to choose between the safety of my fellow and dozens of innocent mortals. But how could I knowingly put Percy in danger? He was part of the Great Prophecy; his life was more precious than all the people on the planet. Our victory hinged on his –and the other five's– survival.

'I am ordering you,' I said calmly, ignoring his increasing frustration at being stopped, 'as your senior officer; to stand down.'

There was complete silence on the Bridge as Percy dithered, obviously not knowing what to do. Then, he stepped back –both me and Annabeth to sighed in relief– and fixed me with a look.

'I'm not going to disobey you,' he said quietly (so quietly that I had to strain to hear him over the ringing alarms), 'but these are _innocent_ lives at stake, Jason.'

For the first time since boarding the ship, words failed me completely.

'So I'm asking you...' Percy went on, his green eyes glittering with emotion, 'I'm asking you to just _trust _me on this. I'll make it back—I can promise you that much.'

I blinked, feeling his earlier statement ring in my ears again.

_You have major trust issues._

The computers binged loudly again, announcing that we now had twenty seconds left. My brain was literally screaming at me to disregard the sentimentality and hit the button. Percy had no definite proof that he would survive such an insane idea. The rational decision, the _right _decision, would be to ignore him.

I gritted my teeth. 'Fine.' I said loudly, 'fine. Go.'

There was a moment of shock on the Bridge, which was broken simultaneously by Percy's whoop of joy and Annabeth's enraged shout.

'What is _wrong _with you—?' Annabeth's gaze bored into me painfully, as Percy whirled around on his feet and exited the Bridge in record time. I watched him sprint across the deck and dive off the edge, his boxers shining brightly in the morning sun.

I turned away from Annabeth and replaced the catch on the detonation button.

'Eric,' I called, 'get me Percy's location on the screen.'

Every communicator device was fixed with a separate GPS tracking system so at a given moment, I could know the device's (and consequently the person who was wearing it) location on Earth. It was a very handy addition if I did say so myself.

As Eric started to superimpose Percy's dot on to the RADAR screen so I could see both the submarine's and his positions in relation to the ship, I lifted up the Captain's microphone again, feeling oddly relieved.

'This is your Captain speaking,' I started, figuring it was best to stick to the basics, 'crew to brace for impact in... I glanced up at the clock, 'ten seconds.'

'Think he'll make it in time?' Leo asked conversationally as the Bridge started the final countdown with lots of alarm bells ringing. I watched Percy's dot race across the screen, impossibly fast, and allowed myself to hope just a little.

'Ten, nine, eight...'

The computerized voice echoed around us.

'He'll be fine.' I said, trying not to wince when I realized how empty the words sounded. My first major decision as captain of the _Argo II, _and I'd only managed to put the life of a prophecy member at risk. I was off to a superb start.

'Four, three, two...

Annabeth stood next to me, her gaze fixed on the screen in front of us.

'If he doesn't come back,' she muttered out of the corner of her mouth, 'you won't have to worry about Gaia, Jason Grace—I'll get to you first.'

I barely had time to register the threat, when the clock came to a huge, red, 'zero' and another dot appeared on the screen, racing towards us, faster than Percy.

I braced myself against the chair in front of me, waiting for the ship to rock from the explosion when, suddenly—

Nothing happened.

Absolutely nothing.

I mean, except for the fact that the third dot on the RADAR screen vanished as though somebody had scrubbed it off with a very thorough brush. You could have heard a pin drop in the silence of the Bridge.

It was rather anticlimactic.

Leo, as usual, was the first to speak. 'That was it?' He stared at the screens in front of us which, after the last five minutes of making a hell of a lot of noise, were unusually silent.

'Either the torpedo missed us or...'

I seized the empty microphone and keyed in straight to Communications. 'Bridge to Comm. Come in.'

Chris answered immediately. 'This is Comm. Orders?'

I glanced at the RADAR and found to my relief that Percy's dot was still blinking on the screen. Sadly, so was _USS Swordfish's_. The submarine was clearly keeping pace with us.

'Patch the Bridge to Percy's channel.' I ordered, not bothering to keep the intercom on any longer to hear Chris' response.

Leo looked at me doubtfully. 'What's the point; he can't exactly talk under water, can he?'

I ignored Leo's surprisingly logical insight and went back to the microphone.

'Percy?' I called, once the screen gave me the green light to speak, 'Percy; are you there? Can you hear me?'

A rustle of static answered me. I cast a wary eye at the RADAR where Percy's dot was still blinking reassuringly. Forcing myself to not overreact, and surreptitiously avoiding Annabeth's gaze (which was like splintered glass), I tried again.

'Percy?' I couldn't keep the edge of worry out my tone, 'if you can hear me—'

There was a sound of an elephant gasping (that was my best guess) and I cringed when the line became overloaded with static. Ten seconds of it, nearly had me reaching for Comm. again, demanding to know if the system had stopped working or something.

Before I had a chance though, the static stopped and Percy's unmistakable cheery tone came through the speakers.

'Hey—sorry about that, I was making an air bubble.'

Relief coursed through me so fast that I felt a little weak in my knees. Despite the momentary light headedness, I didn't miss Annabeth's wince at her boyfriend's words. After throwing her a questioning glance to make sure all was well; I turned my attention back to Percy, my curiosity getting the better of me.

'What happened just now,' I demanded loudly, 'to the torpedoes?'

'Oh, don't worry about them.' I could practically hear Percy grinning through his words, 'I took care of it.'

I was so stunned that it took a few moments for me to pick my lower jaw of the floor. 'How...?' I sputtered, and then decided to just leave the question at one word.

'Punched one out,' Percy answered easily, 'and caused the other to ram into a water wall.'

I decided, that for the sake of my sanity, I was better off not knowing what those last few words meant.

Annabeth shifted next to me, 'can you _please_ get him back on the ship, now?' She muttered, careful to draw back so that her words weren't picked up by the microphone in my hand.

I opened my mouth to relay the order, when I was interrupted by a god-awful noise. Startled, I nearly dropped the mike and looked up to find the various alarms on the screens ringing again. The green image of the ship was back to flashing red.

'Ops to Bridge. Come in.' Dakota's voice sounded over all the mayhem and I hurriedly hit the switch which would allow me to change channels.

'This is Bridge. What's happening?'

Dakota sighed heavily, 'they've locked on to us again. Persistent bastar—'

Annabeth wrenched the mike out of my hands, and spoke over Dakota's loud swearing.

'I thought Malcolm was dealing with this!'

I glanced up at the screens and gulped: _Swordfish _wasn't being kind any longer and unlike the last time, we only had a minute to react to the new threat.

Malcolm's panicky voice came over the line. 'I had it covered,' he wailed, 'until some genius on board managed to skirt one of my commands.'

Annabeth didn't take the news well. 'How many more strikes do we have to deal with before you get it right, Malcolm?!'

While I thought it was a _tad _unfair for Annabeth to blame her brother so publicly, I fully understood where her frustration was stemming from. The more the submarine launched its weapons at us, the longer Percy would be in the water, and the greater he would be at risk. Just because he'd been lucky once did _not _make me want to test his fate again.

Malcolm sounded almost close to tears. 'This is the last one I swear; I put a virus into the motherboard so—'

The rest of his words were drowned out by Chris' rough voice which issued from another set of speakers, making it the first time the Bridge had to deal with two departments at once.

'Comm. to Bridge, come in.'

Eric answered the summons. 'This is Bridge. Report?' He tossed the second microphone to me, causing the corresponding connecting wire to unravel completely, looking like a ghastly spider web in the middle of the floor.

'We've intercepted a radio message from _Swordfish _to Western Naval Command. They're requesting assistance.'

This time, my swears rivalled even Dakota's. 'How soon will the help be here?'

'Hard to say,' Chris hesitated, 'but _USS Iridium _responded, and said that they're not too far out.'

I gritted my teeth and flung an enquiring look to Leo. His expression wasn't encouraging. It was bad enough that I was trying to make the _Argo II _outrun a stealth submarine; I didn't want to add another ship to the equation.

I handed the microphone back to Eric and rounded on one of the crew members sitting in front of me. 'Get _Iridium's _coordinates up on the screen.'

Meanwhile Annabeth had finished torturing her brother, so I brought Percy back online.

'Thank the gods,' he whined as soon as he heard my voice, 'I thought something had happened to you guys.'

'Sorry,' I said reflexively, and proceeded to fill him in on the situation.

Percy, unlike me, didn't sound too perturbed, but then again, _he_ wasn't looking at a green clock which was mentioning in large numbers that we had less than a minute before the ship got attacked again _or _the fact that _USS Iridium _was only 10 nautical miles away. If they really opened up their engines, the naval ship could arrive at the scene in less than half an hour.

'I'll deal with the torpedoes,' Percy reassured me, 'we'll figure something out for the other ship once I'm done.'

He clicked off, and I, seized with a sudden desire to actually make something _happen_,joined Leo and Annabeth at their station.

'How soon can hit our top speed?' I asked, trying to ignore the way Annabeth's gaze was fixed unerringly on the RADAR screen. I had no doubt that if something did happen to Percy; I wouldn't survive much longer after that.

Leo winced at my question and glanced down at the sheaf of calculations. 'I told you Jason,' he said in that annoying tone where he supposed he knew best, 'the engines are volatile; we can't just press out foot to the accelerator.'

'_Why_ are these stupid engines so volatile?' I hissed, remembering in mind's eye the close call I'd had in Christmas. Getting a hold of Buford had been the single most terrifying moment of my life, and I still had nightmares about it.

Leo's eyes narrowed. 'You said you needed the engines to be efficient and capable of long distances.'

I shrugged, 'yeah, so?'

'So,' Leo ground out, 'you have to trade in a few things to achieve that. Stability is one of them.'

Shaking my head, I gestured towards his tool-belt, 'can't you just _fix _them—'

'I can't.' Leo snapped, 'so just learn to deal with it, okay?'

I opened my mouth to retort, but the clanging of the alarm bells had started again as the screen showed the ten second countdown. Remembering that the rest of the ship probably didn't have a clue about what was going on I grabbed the Captain's microphone.

'This is your Captain speaking,' I said in a rush, watching the seconds disappear, 'crew to brace for impact.' I resisted adding the word, _again _and dropped the device back into its apparatus.

Annabeth turned to me suddenly, 'I have a bad feeling about this.'

I watched the last few seconds tick off and sure enough, even I felt the unease. 'Why—'

An explosion.

A _loud _explosion.

Think of a car bursting into flames right in front of you... or at least just the sound of that. Accompany that sound by a sudden burst of water into the sky and you'll know what I was looking at. The shockwave rattled the windows and Leo's table flickered on and off, the image hazy with lines.

Annabeth and I rushed to the left side of the Bridge, nearly falling over each other to get out of the door and stand on the ledge so that we could see what had just happened.

Large white ripples radiated off the surface, barely half a mile off the port side of the _Argo II_. It looked as though some sea monster was bubbling under the surface, waiting to strike... but I knew better. For better or for worse, there was no sea monster.

A torpedo had just exploded.

Annabeth gripped the railing with white knuckles. 'Percy...'

I didn't waste time hanging around. Heart thumping, and with a sick feeling invading my stomach, I bounded back into the Bridge, tripped over the microphone's wire, before finally managing to click the "talk" button.

'Percy,' I nearly shouted into the device, 'can you hear me? Say something!'

I glanced at the RADAR screen and saw that Percy's dot was still blinking... but that didn't mean anything in particular. His communicator wasn't wired to see if he had a pulse. It would continue sending a signal –whether attached to a live body or not– till its battery ran out.

Forcing down the panic, I tried again, telling myself that Percy was only making an air bubble so that he could reply. 'Percy? C'mon man, tell me you're alive.'

Static rumbled over the line ominously.

Desperate for something to do, I turned to Leo who looked like he was in shock. 'Get me a damage assessment on the _Argo II_,' I ordered, 'now!'

He leaped into action, knocking over several things in the process, but no matter how much noise he made; he couldn't mask the pressing silence which continued to emit from the speakers around me.

'Percy?' I was gripping the microphone so hard that my hand was trembling, 'tell me you're okay, man.'

Nobody answered. I could feel everyone's gaze press into me from all sides, but I stared resolutely at the RADAR screen, trying to convince myself that Percy was just tangled up in seaweed or something. Something of that nature just _had _to be delaying him... there couldn't be any other explanation.

_Except he's a son of Neptune, _my logical side chided, _he could untangle himself from seaweed without a problem. _

The door off the Bridge opened and Annabeth entered, her face absolutely white.

'Is he...?' I trailed off, realizing that if Percy had broken through the surface, Annabeth would have been looking a whole lot better.

I gritted my teeth. 'It's okay,' I muttered, more to myself than anybody else, 'we'll send in a couple of divers. He's probably just stuck somewhere.'

Annabeth didn't reply.

Leo, however, decided to do the honours. 'Divers?' he repeated uncertainly, 'I don't think _anyone _can dive that far down—'

'Well they'll just have to!' I exclaimed and turned to Eric who was hovering near the intercom, 'tell Comm. to get me two swimmers right now!'

Eric nodded, 'yes, sir.'

And still the ominous silence pervaded. The bright sun and blue sea seemed to mock me: how could I, Jason Grace, have sent my colleague, my _friend _to his death, just because I couldn't stomach the idea of collateral damage. I couldn't even _begin _to fathom the consequences of what I'd just done.

Had I just ruined any chances of defeating Gaia permanently...?

A sudden sound of a camel choking sounded over the speakers, interrupting the monotonous buzzing that had been coming till now. I hadn't even processed the change completely and I was already diving for the microphone.

'Percy?' I yelped, my words ricocheting through three musical scales, 'what happened? Percy?!'

The camel continued to choke... except I suddenly realized that it was probably a human coughing. Sure enough, after a couple of very noisy deep breaths, what sounded like a very bedraggled Percy began to speak.

'Hey...' He coughed some more, 'yeah I'm fine. 'Sup?'

I think both Annabeth and I might have shared the impulse to strangle Percy at that particular moment. The rest of the Bridge didn't seem to share the idea; they all broke into loud cheers and several of the crew members slapped each other on the back.

Containing the urge to swear loudly, I focused on the essentials. 'What the hell happened?'

Percy cleared his throat. 'Well, um, I might have punched the wrong end of the torpedo...'

Out of the corner of my eye I saw, Annabeth exhale into a long suffering sigh.

'...and it kind of, well, blew up.' Percy finished, somewhat lamely.

Deciding I would skin him alive later on, I continued with the questioning. 'Are you injured in any way?'

Percy mulled over that for a bit. 'Well I guess I passed out after the explosion—'

Annabeth straightened up, and very resolutely, walked away to the corner of the Bridge where she sat down next to Leo and pulled his engine calculations towards herself, with an air of burying deep into the work.

'—but nothing's broken,' Percy continued brightly, 'and all I have is a mild headache.'

I opened my mouth to say something very sarcastic (along the lines of, _"well, that's no problem at all, then"_) but the intercom buzzed, heralding the fact that someone else wanted to talk to the Bridge.

'Ops to Bridge. Come in.'

What distracted me from saying my piece to Percy was that unlike all the other times it wasn't Dakota who was patching through to us, but Malcolm.

Annabeth answered it, not, I suspected, because she was feeling particularly sisterly, but because she seemed to want to distract herself from the fate of her impulsive boyfriend.

'This is the Bridge. Report?'

Malcolm sounded glad to have reached his sister directly. 'My virus has knocked out _Swordfish's _communication structure for the moment.'

He paused, only to continue proudly, 'and I got Comm. to radio _Iridium, _pretending to be _Swordfish. _The ship's heading for coordinates about twenty miles from here. We're safe for about an hour before they catch on.'

Momentarily gladdened by the news, I said, 'that's awesome.'

'What's awesome?' Percy wanted to know.

'Nothing.' I said quickly, my mind running a mile a minute. With _Swordfish's _communication tower out _and Iridium _heading off to a patch of empty sea some way from us, most of my problems had now disappeared. Finally, I was beginning to see some light at the end of the tunnel.

The only irritant was the fact that _Swordfish _seemed determined to keep tailing us. If they kept it up, they'd be able to get their radio working again and then they probably wouldn't hesitate to call the entire Western Fleet down on us. There was no other way about it: they had to be stopped.

Permanently.

Annabeth looked at me suddenly, and even though she didn't say a word, I could tell immediately that she'd arrived at the same conclusion as I did. I gulped, half convinced she was going to out me, but then with a barely discernible nod she went back to her conversation with Leo about attempting to get the engines to respond faster.

Clearly, I'd been granted amnesty because of the fact that Percy was in danger. Somehow, I doubted if she'd let me blow an entire submarine out of the water just because it was the appropriate thing to do.

I picked up the microphone and spoke to Percy, fighting to keep my tone casual. 'Okay: you can get back on the ship now; we worked out the torpedo problem.'

Against all odds (because let's face it; the Son of Neptune wasn't the best reader of body language in the world) Percy seemed to sense something was amiss.

'So quickly?' He asked, a hint of suspicion colouring his tone, 'what's the deal?'

I sighed, wishing the universe would stop making my job harder than it already was. 'Nothing's the _deal, _Percy; I just don't want you passing out again.'

'Uh, huh...' He didn't sound like he bought it all, 'actually I'm pretty fine down here—'

'Percy!' I hissed irritably, 'will you just get back on board? We have an hour's window before _Iridium _finds us.'

Turns out, Percy can be pretty smart when he wants to. It took him less than five seconds to figure out what I was going to do (either that or he'd telepathically read Annabeth's mind) and a second later, he was in full protest.

'No,' He said emphatically, 'no, no, no. We've been through this Jason; I'm not letting you kill some mortals—'

'You don't have a choice,' I reminded him coldly. 'Now get back on the ship!'

I was done trying to keep everybody happy. For me, my ship's safety came first, along with the health of my crew. I didn't care if I had to wipe out the entire continent of Australia to win the war if it was needed. That was who I was. And I wasn't even ashamed of it any more. Percy could be the hero; I was content being the dark knight.

'I'll take out the _Argo II's _missiles,' Percy threatened, 'and _you _can't stop me from doing that!'

My hands balled into fists. Couldn't this guy take a look at the bigger picture once in a while?

'Do that and you'll endanger all of us.' I said, not regretting the fact that I was playing Percy's own weakness against him, 'or have you forgotten that those missiles have Greek fire?'

There was a moment of silence as Percy wrestled with the implications of my statement. I glanced at Annabeth and found her gnawing on her lip worriedly. Great, I thought to myself, all I need is for her to change her mind now.

But she didn't—and for that, I was eternally grateful.

'How about this?' Percy asked suddenly, 'I stop _Swordfish _from following us, without having to blow them to pieces.'

I raised my eyebrow sceptically, and then remembered that that he couldn't see me. 'No.' I said wearily, 'I'm not letting you do any more crazy stuff.'

'You don't _let _me do anything.' Percy retorted, sounding affronted.

I rolled my eyes, 'get back on the ship Percy!'

He didn't respond right away, and I glanced hurriedly at the RADAR screen, suddenly sure that he was off disobeying my orders already. The dot, however, seemed to be in its usual place.

'Five minutes.' Percy said suddenly, 'give me five minutes and I'll be back.'

I was on the verge of losing my temper, 'Percy, no—!'

But he'd already clicked off, to be replaced by the ominous static once again.

* * *

**A/N: So I read the first five or so chapters of the **_**real **_**Mark of Athena (they got leaked on to google books) and now I feel like crap, because Rick Riordan is like a god compared to me. His plot is like a freaking roller coaster ride and mine is like... a sapling which gets occasional growth spurts.**

**Sigh.**

**Not going to be reading any more leaked stuff. Though the Percy/Annabeth reunion was pretty great. **


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: Been a while since the last update huh? What can I say I've been agonizing over that ending of the **_**real **_**'Mark of Athena.' Anyway: here's a chapter to keep you busy wondering about this story.**

**Don't forget to review!**

* * *

**7) Wise Words Are Spoken.**

**Percy**

Frank had been right earlier: my mother _must_ have dropped me on the head a lot.

Because what I was contemplating to do, could only be correctly classified in "the most insane idea" category of the Guinness World Book of Records. And when they made in "For All Time" version of it, my stunt would still take top place. Well, at least I'd come first in _something_.

Jason needed _USS Swordfish _to stop following the _Argo II. _If I let him do what he intended to do; it would spell the death of nearly three hundred people on board the submarine. He could, undoubtedly, handle the consequences of such a terrible decision, but I couldn't. There was no way I could live with myself if I just let mortals _die _in front of me. My mother had raised me better than that.

Which was why, I was now heading over to the submarine, with every intention of trying to knock out propeller.

Jason, of course was still attempting to contact me but I kept ignoring the insistent sounds in my ear, telling me that someone was trying to send me a message.

The ocean swirled around me, the currents helping me move faster. I knew _exactly _where I was heading because all the fish that passed me by proved very helpful by screaming in terror about "a giant death tube" following them. Then they saw me and immediately assumed I was going to avenge their fallen comrades.

Which therefore made me get a huge fan following as I swam towards the looming submarine. I sincerely hoped the submarine didn't have a fish detector installed. It could be relaying a series of very creepy pictures if it did.

Submarines, by the way, can be very frightening figures in dark oceans devoid of any light. As I neared the vessel, it seemed to strike some core terror inside me and I almost changed my mind at the last instant.

_The mortals, _I reminded myself sternly, _you're doing it for them._

Approaching the submarine from the right, I tried to wave away the fish that were following me. They didn't react at first but when they noticed what exactly I was heading to, they fled in fright. They had no desire to being made into little fish kebabs and I couldn't blame them really. I didn't have any desire of being chopped up either.

_Mortals, _I chanted in my head, edging towards the massive propeller that was swinging away in front of me. Getting close to it was tricky business. I couldn't come in directly behind it because the currents were too strong for me to reverse. As it was all the swimming around I'd done with the torpedoes was catching up with me.

The worst part about the whole scenario was that I couldn't just float about for a minute trying to envisage a way. _Swordfish _was moving along, trailing the _Argo II _and by golly, it was moving _fast. _

The fish had long since disappeared and now it was just me in the empty ocean with a thing that looked every bit as dangerous and threatening as a tank bearing down on someone.

_Annabeth, _I thought weakly, _please don't kill me when I get back. _

Sensing a sudden slip in the current, I swam in sideways, careful to stay out of the submarine's wake, fighting against the buffeting pressure the blades created. It wasn't easy and I kept getting thrown off track. For every three feet of water I gained, I got pushed back it two. It was hard, exhausting work.

And I hadn't even got to the best part yet.

Trying to assert my dominance (this was _my _domain, goddamnit!) I commanded the ocean to push me through the eddying currents. My gut pulled like I'd been shot with an arrow and my vision flickered white.

The next moment: I was flying through the water, aiming straight for the nasty propeller blades.

Twisting at the last second, I caught hold of one of the blades before I passed right through them. In hindsight, it wasn't the best move. I mean, okay, the metal didn't slice me apart (score one for the Curse of Achilles), but it did wrench me out of my homemade wave and spin me around like a wheel on a roulette table.

My vision whirled and I fought down the rising nausea. Struggling to focus, I landed another hand on the deadly blade and tried to pull against the centrifugal force. But even my godly awesome powers couldn't make a dent in it and my gut felt like it was trying explode out of my body with all the effort.

Clearly, my plan wasn't working.

I'd hoped I could get the propellers to turn the other way with sheer force, but I didn't have enough energy to pull through with that. I wasn't even sure if I _could _do something like that even if I was fully levelled up. Son of a sea god I may have been, but _USS Iridium _obviously had a Class A, turbine engine designed to withstand all kinds of things.

It was time to improvise...

... which wasn't the easiest thing to do when I was going round and round at top speed. Suddenly, I was infinitely glad I hadn't gotten around to eating breakfast. Throwing up in the midst of getting my brain scrambled wouldn't have been fun at all.

A light switched on in the dim reaches of my head and I grasped at the idea. Reversing the flow of the propellers was too exhausting. All I had to do was bring them to a halt—forcefully, so that they wouldn't be able to work for some time, allowing the _Argo II _to get away.

I shut my eyes and concentrated, imagining building a wall, brick by brick. When I'd done the same thing earlier for the torpedoes, it'd been the easiest trick to pull. Now, with my wits scattered about (literally) it took every inch of control to get the water to behave.

Without warning, my shoulder slammed into something, jarring me so badly that one of my hands lost its grip on the propeller blade. Flailing about like a mad man, I pulled myself back in as the submarine's engine groaned; trying to cut its way through what was –essentially– solid water.

For a long immeasurable moment, the submarine and I fought to wrestle control of the propellers. Then, with a satisfying "crunch" the propeller stopped pushing. A second later I felt the pressure release and the metal I was holding on gave a low, ominous groan, and to my horror, started to fall back on me. There was no way I could hold up the weight of the heavy propellers, even with the Curse.

Panicking, I released the water wall... a second decision I regretted immediately.

The water reacted like whiplash and shoved me through the sea so fast that for two seconds, everything blurred together and I could only see a black, inky darkness. I was on the verge of trying to stop myself when my father's realm insisted on helping—by throwing me straight into a rocky outcrop.

I think it was safe to say, that without the Curse of Achilles, every bone in my body might have shattered on impact. The breath left my lungs and for a moment I was left with the strange sensation of drowning.

In front of me, I saw the propeller fall through the sea, looking strangely sad as it disappeared into the depths. To my right, _USS Iridium _glowed –all of its lights had come on by now– and water churned from its outlets, signalling that it was trying to rise.

Suddenly I felt queasy. The submarine wouldn't _sink _without its propeller, would it?

I brushed my hair back, and tried to control my breathing as I watched. My gut throbbed and I had a strange urge to throw up (whether from nausea, exhaustion or fear, I didn't know) but I forced it down.

Jason's panicked voice suddenly sounded in my ear.

'—they _seem_ to have stopped but I have no idea for how long. Somebody get me a damn visual on what's happening down there!'

With a start, I realized I'd accidentally clicked on my communicator when I'd brushed back my hair.

'... and I swear I'm going to kill that idiot when we find him!'

Grinning despite myself, I created an air bubble (which took a lot more effort than it should have) and kept a wary eye on the submarine which was still rising slowly.

'Hey Jason, long time man.'

Jason's stunned silence lasted all of three seconds. Then, he began to speak, with lots of unmentionable abuses peppering his words.

'What did you _do_?' He yelped, 'and are you hurt?'

I opened my mouth to answer and then rethought my words. Jason probably had me on the Bridge speakers and anything I said would be heard by everyone there... including Annabeth. I knew she was already pretty ticked off about what I'd chosen to do and I _so _did not want her to find out the extent of my injuries without me being there to explain.

'I'm fine,' I lied easily, 'perfectly all right.'

Jason didn't sound like he believed me but he didn't push it. '_Iridium _isn't following us anymore. What happened?'

I cast my eye at the submarine—I could only see it's the bottom of it now. 'I uh, knocked out the propellers.' I paused, wondering if I had to give a detailed explanation as to _how _I'd managed that. 'I don't think it's going to be seaworthy for a long time.'

This time Jason's silence lasted ten seconds. Eventually, when he spoke, I detected a mixture of admiration and resignation in his tone.

'You're crazy.' He stated, 'and now that you've proved it beyond doubt will you _please _get back on the ship?'

I heaved a sigh and stretched tiredly. All I really wanted to do was curl up into a ball and go to sleep and then maybe eat half a dozen of my mom's brownies. My head was still dealing with some residual spin and I felt as though every last muscle of mine had been pulled to its limit.

'Be there if five,' I said into my communicator, 'have a welcoming committee ready for me.'

* * *

Note to all sons of Poseidon: if you feel like crap while in the ocean, be prepared to feel like death when you get out of it.

I barely made it.

I struggled over the side of the _Argo II, _moaning and groaning and dripping water everywhere. The last bit should tell you tired I was since I couldn't even gather enough wits to _dry _myself.

Jason, had taken me at my word, and he met me on the main deck with a couple of other people: Max Keenan and Shane, the latter of whom was grinning as though he couldn't wait to tell his sister –Clarisse– about what a wuss I was.

'Percy,' Jason said in a rather pained voice, 'could you please wear boxers which aren't _that _colour?'

I tried to shake the woozy feeling out of my head, forcing myself to stand still. Maybe if I didn't move too much my nausea would go away.

'Blue is my favourite colour.' I muttered, wincing when my headache worsened.

Jason didn't look impressed. 'Yeah, well maybe a different shade—what the hell?!'

The last few words were in reaction to the fact that I'd just doubled over and thrown up all over his jeans and shoes. I couldn't help myself; it just came out nowhere (seriously; I hadn't had any food since dinner the night before) and before I could get back in control, a semi-digested mess of my stomach fluids had spattered the deck (and Jason.)

'Uh,' I said weakly, straightening, 'sorry about that.'

It was hard to tell, because my vision kept blurring in and out, but I think Jason might have wanted to deck me. Instead, he took a deep breath and gestured to Max.

'Get him to the infirmary.'

Max did a quick salute, though he was fighting a grin.

'Yes sir.'

'And you,' Jason turned to Shane who was chuckling under his breath, 'get someone to clean this deck!'

Shane's reply was lost on me since that was the exact moment when my body decided to shut down. My legs buckled and my face would have hit the floor had it not been for the someone –I wasn't sure which of them– who caught me under my armpits and steadied me.

'Jupiter,' Jason cursed, 'ambrosia and nectar, now!'

And that was the last thing I heard before my vision darkened and I passed out.

* * *

The universe, in all its infinite wisdom decided, that my body wasn't beaten enough and that it was time for my brain to get a shock to the system as well. Which is why, it decided to show me the usual plethora of horrifying visions/dreams/nightmares/oh-gods-why?

I was first subjected to a kind of doomsday video montage without the terrifying music in the background. A close shot of Mount Olympus (the actual mountain) looking all dark and brooding was followed by a series of panorama views of large, decidedly monster armies. They were ugly, brute monsters which I couldn't even name and seemed, without exception, capable of tearing apart puny demigods with their bare hands (claws.)

Then there was a sort of intermission where Gaia's slow moving face churned and shifted in the sands of an unfamiliar beach. I was half prepared for her to say something but she didn't—only her mouth twisted into a sneer (though it might have been that she was deciding to get some plastic-err, _dirt _surgery.)

Following the break, was an odd HD scene starring Jason, Piper and Leo fighting on a mountain. I watched with fascination as they fought against the Earthborn, rescued Piper's dad and defeated a very ugly giant.

A quick change, and they were back to fighting except now it was in a place I recognized: the Wolf House. Jason was actually scarily efficient as he went around smacking wolves with a wooden board though I didn't quite get what Piper and Leo were doing.

And then, as a climax to the battle I saw a giant the colour of lima beans with scaly dragon feet slam his spear into the ground and disappear into the earth. It was quite moving.

The picture dissolved into darkness, making me feel quite glad. I didn't need to see any more of Gaia's forces gathering _or _the heroic adventures of Jason Grace and co.

But as they say—the show must go on.

The scene reassembled slowly, much to my frustration. It was as though somebody was purposely trying to delay whatever I was looking at. Most of the vision was covered in darkness though this, I soon realized, wasn't as much as camera guy's fault as much as the _location _of the shoot.

From what I could make out, the area looked like a subterranean dwelling. It had the rocky feel to it—something I had lots of experience recognizing from the time I spent in Hephaestus Way.

Centre stage was some kind of dark pit of swirling and eddying currents of dirt. And in the middle of the pit –and it took me a whole minute to make the connection– was Nico.

To be honest: he looked like he was dead.

Upon closer examination I found that he was breathing minimally. Steel chains cuffed him to the floor and even in my dream state I could sense the cold, evil aura emitting from them. Ignoring them, I crouched down next to Nico, trying to shake him awake.

My hands couldn't seem to grasp him.

I tried another approach. 'Nico,' I said urgently, 'can you hear me? Get up!'

Nico didn't respond.

Out of ideas –because there was only so much I could do in my dream state– I glanced around the cave, trying to memorize all the features. The centre pit extended for about three hundred feet in either direction, after which the sides abruptly dropped off into darkness.

High walls rose out of the emptiness on the other side, making it feel as though the pit was an island, in a an inland lake, (the water being the darkness of course.) Torches were scattered haphazardly and paradoxically made everything darker with the long shadows they cast.

Underneath my feet, the ground rumbled distantly, as though something (I had a pretty good guess of _what_) was waiting to rise. I moved to try Nico again but I'd only taken a few steps when an icy fire drove its spike into my head.

_You have seen enough, hero. _Gaia's earthy tone was filled with the quiet promise of torture; _it's time to return to your floating plank. _

... and so I woke up, flailing about in the infirmary.

* * *

I bolted upright (the same way after you feel like you've been dreaming about falling off a cliff) and nearly fell off the bed except something tugged at my hand in protest and kept me on.

Shaking my head and trying to get my heart to settle, I glanced around. The infirmary had an entire wall dedicated to bay windows (which could be sealed shut in a moment) behind me so sunshine and a cool ocean breeze filled the room. My bed was at the opposite end of the room from the door, and next to me was a long cabinet filled with all kinds of things ranging from gauzes, to tiny bottles of medicines and surgical instruments.

Idly, I wondered if any of the Apollo kids had ever cut someone open.

I looked at my wrists and feet, and found that they'd been tied with black cloth in a simple knot which I undid in a few moments. The index finger on my right hand had a small clip on it, whose wire trailed back to a standard heart rate/BP machine.

In fascination, I watched the numbers change as my pulse settled. Barring a few sporadic instances, I'd never actually been to a hospital. And even then it was usually to only get one or two stitches. I moved to take the clip but hesitated; would the machine start beeping like crazy once it didn't detect a heartbeat?

Thankfully, I didn't have to wait long to resolve my dilemma.

Max Keenan entered the room and looked utterly unsurprised to see me awake.

'Oh good,' he murmured, 'now I don't have to keep checking on you.'

He fiddled with the machine and printed a sheet of paper from it before turning it off. I looked out of the window meditatively, still thinking about Nico.

'What time is it?' I asked, once I realized I didn't have my watch with me and that the sun's position in the sky was entirely unhelpful, given the fact that I didn't know which way was east.

Max pulled a rolling chair and sat down in front of me, withdrawing a pen flashlight from his pocket. 'About four in the evening.'

Startled, I turned back to him. 'Really?'

'Yeah.' Max leaned forward and shone the flashlight in my eye, 'you've been asleep about six hours.'

Still blinking the spots from my vision, I didn't answer.

'Anyway,' Max continued briskly, 'your reflexes are functioning and your vital signs look good—which is a relief. How are you feeling?'

I considered the question: I still felt tired, and I had the notion that if I got back into bed I could sleep another six hours without a problem. However, I didn't feel ill and my head was fairly clear.

'Pretty good,' I admitted, 'what'd you guys do?'

By guys of course, I was referring to the Apollo kids who had no doubt toiled over me to keep me alive.

Max frowned. 'We couldn't _do_ much,' his mouth twisted unhappily, 'nectar was out of the question since you'd fainted and when we tried to feed it in intravenously; the needle broke.'

_Oops, _I thought to myself, _definite downside of having the Curse of Achilles. _

'Your friend, Will Solace sang a hymn,' Max informed me, 'but that didn't help a lot. So we basically just doused you with water for a few hours.'

'Huh.' I glanced at the bed sheets, which looked dry enough, 'that was innovative.'

Max's expression suddenly reminded me of my mom's when she'd caught me daydreaming when I was supposed to be studying. 'Desperate times called for desperate measures.'

I got his underlying message clearly: don't be stupid enough to do what you did again. We might not be able to save you the next time.

I cleared my throat. 'Right, so, am I free to leave?'

Max glanced at the print out in his hand before examining me. 'I don't see why not,' he conceded finally, 'but if you feel ill, headache, nausea, _anything_, you come right back here.'

I rolled my eyes: I thought Romans were respectful towards their leaders. Clearly the healing profession of surliness crossed all boundaries of lineage.

My stomach grumbled loudly as I stretched. Embarrassed I turned to Max who was staring out of the window with a vague expression of unease on his face.

'Is there any food around?'

A shadow of a grin crossed his face. 'You missed lunch but I think the mess hall has some donuts available.'

My stomach grumbled even louder at the thought. All I wanted to do was stuff my face with donuts, but then I remembered that it was 4 pm—which meant _I _was now Captain of the ship. And any decent Captain would first check on the safety of his ship before anything else.

Plus, I had to talk to Annabeth. I had a feeling she wasn't going to be pleased. The fact that she wasn't at my bedside waiting for me to wake up was warning enough.

I waved at Max and headed to the door.

* * *

Several people stopped me as I made my way up the ship. The infirmary was on the same level as the gaming room, the mess hall and about ten cabins or so. The crew mostly lounged around in the corridor, standing in groups and having conversations or attempting to make their remote controlled cars race down the carpeted corridor.

I swear I even saw some money change hands as certain people won. What, I wondered to myself, made people so determined to lose money on the most randomest of things?

At the end of the corridor, right next to the ladder that took me up was my cabin. And standing outside it, jiggling pouches of gold, was my dear roomie: Liam.

'Oh hey,' He gestured me to move out of the way so that he could get a better look at the cars bumping along, 'glad to see you awake.'

I glanced at the people urging their vehicles on and then back at Liam, realization dawning.

'You're the one behind this.'

He didn't even have the decency to look ashamed. 'Isn't it awesome?' he grinned widely, 'I think I might have doubled my savings.'

I shook my head. 'You're like the modern plague on this ship.'

'Please,' Liam scoffed, 'they're having fun. And you should be happy—everyone's getting along.'

That much, even I couldn't deny. Romans and Greeks were all milling around on the sidelines, making bets with each other. Apparently the silver denarii and the gold drachma had been elevated to the same position and were being exchanged freely.

I sighed and looked at the cabin opposite mine (and Liam's.) In a bid to show that he was an excellent roommate, Liam had managed to secure the cabin across Annabeth's as ours, arriving early in the morning to pull it off. Of course any goodwill I felt for him was later cancelled out when he'd fought with me over which bed was his, going as far as to change his decision six times in as many minutes.

Truthfully, I _still _didn't know which bed was his as the GQ alarm had interrupted us before we'd arrived at an agreement.

'She isn't there.' Liam said, reading my mind about wanting to see Annabeth.

I raised an eyebrow. 'Then why is the door closed?'

'Annabeth's roommate, Piper or whatever her name is, is sleeping.' Liam scowled at the thought, except I didn't know which he found offensive: Piper or the fact that she was sleeping.

'Great,' I huffed, 'do you know where Annabeth is?'

Surprisingly he did. 'She's sitting in that balcony thing behind the Bridge; reading.'

Startled by the detailed answer, I couldn't help but ask: 'how do you know?'

'Because _I_ was reading there first.' Liam rolled his eyes, 'until she told me to shove off. Very polite of her I must say.'

I grinned, imagining the scene in my head and patted Liam on the shoulder in a sort of "deal with it bro" kind of way. He didn't seem to appreciate the sentiment and told me (rather stiffly) to get out of the way since I was blocking his view again.

I left before I could accidentally step on one of the cars and cause a riot.

* * *

I stopped by at the Bridge since it was on my way to Annabeth. Unlike the last time I'd been there, it was calm and quiet and Jason, Nyssa and a Roman legionary –Kaya I think her name was– were in the midst of an amiable discussion.

'Percy!' Jason jumped off his seat as soon as I entered, 'you're awake!'

I grinned, and snuck a look at his jeans which were clean. 'Got some hapless crew member to clean those as well?'

Jason rolled his eyes. 'I _changed _them. Which you should also do to those blue boxers of yours.'

Unlike last time when I hadn't had a problem stripping in front of people because I was so focused on the problem, now I was faintly embarrassed that Jason had even brought in up in front of two _girls _I was hardly on first name basis with.

Jason misread my discomfort. 'Oh the chairs yours,' he said quickly, gesturing behind to the Captain's seat, 'I was just hanging around till you made an appearance.'

I waved my hands. 'No, stay if you want. I just came to check on things.' I had no intention of spending all my time on the Bridge now that there was no direct threat to the ship.

Jason nodded, still unsure. 'Anyway; thanks to your efforts we don't have a submarine tailing us.'

'Are they searching around?' I asked, knowing that it was highly unlikely the US Navy had just let us go without a follow up.

Jason grimaced. 'Yeah: they've got half the fleet out.'

'The issue's even got up to the UN security council.' Nyssa put in helpfully.

My eyes widened in shock. '_Please _tell me we haven't instigated World War III.'

Jason smiled wryly, 'it isn't that bad... yet.' The last word he added ominously as though he wouldn't be surprised if the US decided to wage war on whichever country they suspected of infiltrating their waters.

'Well,' I said uncertainly, 'if anything else happens, I'll be right outside.'

Jason opened his mouth, maybe to give me some more important information, but he must have sensed that I was in a rush to go somewhere. Instead, he reached behind the Captain's chair and withdrew a plate from which a heavenly aroma wafted.

'Donuts,' He gave them to me, 'figured you'd be hungry.'

I accepted them with a heartfelt, 'bless you kind man,' and headed out through the one of the back entrances to the Bridge which led to the balcony behind it.

* * *

The balcony wrapped around all sides Bridge, barring the front because of the need to have clear visuals from the Bridge. Using the access door, I stepped on to it on the right side, and to my left (and thus directly behind the Bridge) was Annabeth.

She was sitting _on _the railing, reading a book. The evening sun caught her hair and in a fire of red and gold. You know that concept where you get used to the way people look after a while? Yeah, it never worked for me. Every time I saw my girlfriend, my stomach commenced belly flops all over the place.

Her concentration was so perfect that I managed to sneak up to her without her noticing. When I was about three feet away, she looked up, grey eyes giving nothing away.

Biting down the strange disappointment I felt, (wasn't she supposed to be glad I was alive?) I held up the plate Jason had given me as a peace offering.

'Donuts?'

Annabeth raised an eyebrow. 'I'm fine, thanks.'

Her tone was hard to make out. It _seemed _fine, but that was just it. It shouldn't have been fine; it should have been bordering on relief and happiness. Not cold and firm as though I was walking on ice.

Not knowing what to do, I put the plate down and leaned over the railing, looking over the ship. In the distance, some of the crew practised their battle moves on the top deck, their armour reflecting in harmony.

The silence between Annabeth and me continued for a while. I could feel the disapproval radiating off her now and suddenly, I had no desire to meet her gaze. Choosing a spot on the horizon to talk to instead, I decide to start at the beginning.

'I'm sorry.' I muttered.

She was silent for so long that I caved in and looked at her, just to make sure that she'd heard what I'd said. Her eyes were not comforting.

'Are you really?' She countered.

I blanched at the question. See Annabeth always had this ability to hit the nail on its head –and normally I appreciated her surprisingly swift insights– but now what I really wanted to do was just apologise and get it over with. Still, there was no point lying to her.

'I'm sorry I worried you,' I said carefully, 'but I'm not sorry for what I did.'

If I was trying to sort things out: I'd failed miserably.

Annabeth's mouth had turned down at the corners. 'Unbelievable.' She murmured and since it was so quiet, I could hear the disappointment ring in all the syllables.

Annoyed, I forgot that I was trying to make peace with her. 'I told you earlier—I can't deal with death like you can! I couldn't just _sit _by and watch you and Jason kill those men.'

Annabeth's eyes flashed with anger and she hopped off the railing, as though she wanted to get away from me.

'Do you think Jason and I _wanted _to kill those men?' She demanded, furiously.

I turned to face her. 'Then why didn't you even _try _to think of a solution?' I asked, feeling my gut clench in past betrayal. I still couldn't get rid of the feeling that she'd let me down in some way when she'd urged Jason to hit the button.

Annabeth's eyes were like piercing lasers. 'Unlike you, Percy,' she began in a tone which cut right through me, 'Jason and I understand the responsibilities of keeping you alive. We don't have luxury of going off and doing whatever we want!'

'I'm probably the hardest person to kill Annabeth!' I said, exasperatedly, 'I have the Curse of Achilles. Makes me invulnerable, remember?'

'_Nearly _invulnerable.' She corrected, looking away.

A heavy silence descended on us and I hated it. I hated the huge chasm which had opened up. It was as though she was deliberately shooting down my attempts to get through to her. Honestly, I got it: she'd been afraid for me and worried for my safety. I knew exactly where those feelings were stemming from _given the fact that I'd experienced them many times myself. _

And what had she done to my concern? She'd brushed it off like it wasn't a big deal. So why was she giving me a hard time, especially when the odds of me dying were so miniscule compared to hers? Double standards I tell you.

'Look,' I held out my hands, aching to touch her and yet afraid that I'd cross some invisible line if I did, 'can we just forget about this? I'm fine—and I'm not dying any time soon.'

Annabeth pinched the bridge of her nose, unwilling to make a comment.

'Besides,' I continued jokingly, 'you're the only one who knows my Achilles spot so it's not like...'

I trailed off because Annabeth had gone absolutely white. For a second, terror clutched at me—was her wound acting up again? It couldn't possibly; Chiron had declared it healed.

'Exactly,' she murmured to herself, 'if only you'd never told me...'

'What?' I asked, loudly, drowning out the rest of her sentence because I was suddenly so mad. Was this some sort of cruel test?

Annabeth gazed at me, this time without any frustration or anger. 'Why did you tell me about the location of your Achilles spot?'

'Because,' I was flustered, trying to figure out how the conversation had taken such a weird turn, 'I trust you. It's a gesture of...' I couldn't bring myself to say "love" because of the last few days of being deliberately snubbed by her, so I settled for 'friendship.'

'To be honest' Annabeth stated blandly, 'it's a burden.'

I could've dealt with Annabeth being mad at me. I could've dealt with her being annoyed with me. I could have even dealt with her being disappointed with me. But the fact that she was so... emotionless, made me feel as though I was drowning again.

'Well fine,' I said eventually, 'I'm sorry I told you.'

Annabeth pursed her lips and looked away. 'One day Percy, you're going to find that you can't save everybody—and that is the day you'll _have _to make a difficult choice.'

I blinked. This conversation jumping from me being an ass to trusting her to back to being an ass was messing with my head. Stubbornly, I lifted my chin.

'Well I haven't reached it yet, so if it's all the same to you, I'm going to continue saving everybody.'

Annabeth picked her book of the railing and looked down. 'That's what I'm afraid of.'

Her words were so soft –barely a whisper– that I wasn't sure if she warning me or preparing herself. Either way, my frustration at her behaviour melted away and all I wanted was to hug her. My hands were literally itching to make contact.

'Don't leave.' I said, in the hopes that she could just forget about whatever was bothering her for a little while.

Annabeth gazed me steadily. 'I don't have anything else to say.'

Which was code for: _I've just argued with you and I really don't want to spend more time looking at your fish face. _

Or so I assumed. It was hard to tell because of the brick wall she'd put around her personality. I shrugged, pretending it wasn't a big deal and turned away and reached for my donuts.

And yet as she left silently, I couldn't help but wonder if something between us had been damaged permanently.

* * *

I stayed on the balcony for a long time. After the harrowing morning I'd had I was pretty happy to just stand and look at the vast sea as we sailed through it. Plus, I didn't want to go back to the Bridge and deal with company or conversation. My argument with Annabeth (could it even be _called _an argument) had left me feeling curiously drained—even worse than what I'd felt after climbing back on the ship.

Thankfully, no forces (human or mythological) tried to attack the _Argo II _so I was able to get away for not being on call at the Bridge. Besides, I figured Jason had developed an unhealthy obsession with the Captain's chair, so who was I to rain on his parade?

Part of me wanted to go hunt down Annabeth again and demand to know what was wrong with her. I didn't care what Rachel had said; there was only so much pretending I could do. And yet, I didn't move. An old insecurity had taken a hold of me and I genuinely feared that if I asked Annabeth what her issue was, she might point straight back at me.

Strange what relationships can do to you. I was supposedly the "hero of Olympus" and I couldn't even gather the courage to confront someone. And so I stayed right where I was and bemoaned the fact that Grover hadn't been able to come on the quest.

He would've known how I was feeling, and would have also probably known how to fix it.

'Hey, Perce.'

Frank suddenly appeared next to me, causing me to jump and nearly drop the (empty) plate of donuts over the edge.

'Jeez.' I shook myself, 'wear a bell would you?'

A ghost of a smile crossed over Frank's lips but even I didn't miss the abject sorrow in his eyes. He looked like a kick puppy; I mean a kicked sheepdog puppy. Because he was big, you know?

'You okay?' I asked, gently, wondering if I was really qualified to do the whole "share your problems with me" considering the fact that I wasn't exactly in the most stable of mind-frames.

Frank drummed his fingers on the railing. 'Fine...' he muttered at last, 'I just, umm, took my stick back from Hazel.'

I didn't know what to say so I tried to offer him donuts before I realized that I'd finished all of them. Feeling infinitely awkward, and yet brimming with sympathy for him, I used the tried and tested method of waiting in silence.

It worked.

'I didn't do it because I was angry with her,' Frank informed me, 'actually, I did it _for _her.'

I frowned. From where I was standing I had a strange feeling that Hazel wouldn't have reacted well to being asked to give back what was essentially a symbol of trust.

'How do you figure that one out?' I kept my tone neutral.

Frank heaved a sigh. 'What with her and Leo... and what he means to her, I decided that I didn't want to stand in the way of anything.'

'But you aren't standing in the way of anything!' I protested. So what if Leo looked like an exact copy of Sammy; Hazel's old friend? I mean, she was _thirteen _when she was with him; surely it wasn't such a big deal?

Frank regarded me with a sort of wearily amused glance. As though he'd gone over the decision a thousand times and found my objections cute.

'You don't know how she looks at him Percy,' his voice caught a little but he moved on, 'I didn't want her to choose me because of the stick. I want her to choose me because of well... me.'

I thought about his words, and had to admit that they did make a little sense. Frank was basically saying he didn't want Hazel to be obligated in any way to like him. It was exactly the sort of self sacrificing, noble effort I had come to expect from him. But that stick was a part of him –an important and valuable piece to his personality– and putting it aside was like throwing out the most important point of a debate. People didn't get to _choose _what they liked about their significant others in relationships. It was all or nothing.

'I'm removing myself from the equation,' Frank continued, 'I won't disrespect her choice by fighting with Leo over her like she's some piece of property.'

I shook my head. For some reason this was becoming a big deal for me. 'You're giving up.'

'No,' Frank countered, 'I'm standing aside.'

'It's the _same _thing!'

Frank smiled dejectedly again. 'But it isn't. Giving up would mean I move on from her. By standing aside, I'm waiting for her to make an arbitrary, unbiased decision.'

I sighed but didn't say anything. It was obvious that I couldn't change his mind, and what he really needed was a friend to support him, not pick holes in his argument. I thought about Annabeth and felt the deep pang again as her words echoed inside my head.

_To be honest, it's a burden. _

I kept my gaze on the railing, hoping that the sudden stinging in my eyes would pass.

I didn't know why I was suddenly drawing parallels to my relationship; our situations were wildly dissimilar. And yet, his stance was exactly the same to mine. I was waiting for Annabeth to confide in me, waiting for her to trust me again. And the reason –the _real _reason, I suspected– why Frank wasn't forcing Hazel to make a decision was probably because he was scared of what I was scared of.

'And what happens if you wait and she... doesn't choose you?'

Frank didn't answer that right away. When he did, he sounded almost resigned to the fact that it'd already happened.

'That's when I move on.' He said quietly.


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: Update day! Man, this chapter was so much fun to write! And is therefore, dedicated to GhostOfAWolf, who is intent on making me feel better about myself. Thanks buddy!**

**Don't forget to review!**

* * *

**8) I Nearly Lose My Cool. (And My Life.)**

**Frank.**

The best part about having my stick back: I knew exactly where it was all the time.

The worst part about having my stick back?

I knew _exactly _where it was _all _the time.

You'd think handing over your lifeline to someone else would be the worst decision you'd ever made. I'm here to tell you that taking it back, after realizing the joys of being free without it, is the worst decision you could ever make.

Not that I regretted taking it back. It just... sucked, that's all.

A dangerous encounter would have been a perfect distraction from my mortality but frustratingly enough, nothing decided to hinder the _Argo II's _journey to Rome. It was as if I was on a free cruise—good food, excellent views and a nice little room to call my own (technically anyway, Dakota was a pretty good roommate aside from his constant need to get buzzed.)

Adding to that (and here I'm pretty sure my Grandmother would have told me to "grow a pair, Fai Zhang" if she were alive,) I was lonely. Everyone seemed to have their own best buddy who they got along with. The only good friend _I _had, spent most of her time with what, at any moment, could become my mortal enemy thanks to his fiery powers.

It wasn't as if I didn't have any other friends except for Hazel. I did! After the battle of Camp Jupiter, I'd gained a whole lot more respect and admiration from my peers. But... they didn't really _get _me I guess. All the Romans wanted to do was talk strategy and all the Greeks wanted to do was ask about the quest to free Thanatos.

Forgive me, but I wanted to do none of those things.

And so I found myself stuck in the archery shed, repeatedly hitting targets at various distances and speeds. Thankfully the other practitioners of the craft –Will Solace and Max to name two– were wise enough to leave me alone. Archery, unlike say, sword-fighting, could be a very lonesome exercise.

The Archery shed was enclosed on three sides, with its right wall open to the rest of the Top Deck. It was long and narrow, and only six people could practice at a time. I usually did my time an hour after lunch when it wasn't so busy. Most of the crew stayed indoors to escape the heat of the day. I was the only one at the shed, and only a handful of other people were sprinkled around the Top Deck—including Jason, Leo and Hazel.

'Hey Leo!' Jason waved his arm, 'in for a sparring match?'

Leo rolled his eyes and leaned across to say something to Hazel who was sitting beside him.

I deliberately moved my gaze back to the target in front of me, ignoring the sudden urge to nock an arrow and send it sailing across the deck, right into Leo Valdez's grinning face. Why he had to rub his relationship with _my _crush right in my face was beyond my comprehension.

_They could also just be enjoying the open air, _a snide voice (which sounded remarkably like my Grandmother's) reminded me, _everything isn't always about you, Frank Zhang. _

Fingers shaking, I let go of the taut string. My arrow zipped across and hit the second ring from the centre.

'Pathetic.' I mumbled to myself, and engaged another arrow. From the deck, I heard a series of conversations when a new voice –Percy's– joined the gathering. A moment later I heard the ring of metal as two swords crossed each other. Figuring Jason and found someone to spar with, I concentrated on the target and imagined Leo's face to be right in the middle of it.

My fingers relaxed and the arrow hit the board.

Dead centre.

Breathing deeply, I pulled out another arrow. The problem with archery, like most forms of combat, was that when you were doing a repetitive exercise, your mind tended to wander. For years, I'd been able to hit targets without a moment's notice. For years, I had hit them correctly. The reason behind being stuck in the Archery Shed on a sweltering summer's day was not because I need the practice; it was because I needed to _think. _

Which, admittedly, I wasn't doing too well on but that was because Leo Valdez was less than twenty feet away from me, having an absolutely hilarious conversation with my not-quite-and-never-had-been girlfriend.

'Got a moment?'

I jumped so high that I released my arrow straight into the roof. Swearing, I turned around and came face-to-face with Annabeth Chase.

Just so you know, on the list of all the people who I thought could've interrupted me, Annabeth wasn't the first name. Or the second. Or even the last. See, for the past two days, if someone needed a synonym for the word "loner," her name would come out immediately.

I'd never thought Annabeth to be a social butterfly, but I hadn't thought her to be a pariah either. She didn't talk to anyone, or smile at anyone or even hang out in the presence of anyone. The only time I'd seen her out of her cabin or the mess hall would be on the Bridge. But that was because of Watch duty; so it wasn't as though she did it for the view either.

'Um,' I took a step back on pure instinct, 'yeah I got a moment. What's up?'

Annabeth gestured to a bench outside the Archery shed. I unstrung my bow, retrieved the arrow from the roof and joined her there. In front of us Jason and Percy were sparring to a bunch of interested onlookers including the Stoll brothers, Bobby and Eric. Leo and Hazel sat in the corner talking, along with the other girl, Piper. They seemed to be having a good time.

On the balcony above us were another group of people, mostly Romans. Among them, I picked out Larry, Dakota and Anthony Webber. They were deep in conversation.

'So...' Annabeth began, referring to a silver tablet in her hand which didn't bear any markings from known companies and instead had a small triangle symbol engraved on the top, 'I've been getting a lot of complaints about the GQ positions assigned to the crew. Thought I'd ask if you wanted to change yours.'

I blinked, forcing myself to pay attention to what she was saying instead of staring at Hazel.

'I'm fine with my GQ position.' I said honestly. My place was in the control room of one of the three guns that rose up on the main deck. It suited me perfectly.

Annabeth let out a relieved sigh and tapped the screen. 'Thank the gods,' she muttered audibly, 'I didn't know where else to put you.'

Despite myself, I grinned. It was refreshing to hear such forthrightness. Looking for a distraction, I glanced at her tablet and saw a list of names with various colour combinations. Then the template changed and a world map with lots of dots came into view.

Before I could make any sense of it though, Annabeth powered off the tablet and put it aside. An uncomfortable silence descended over us; I wasn't sure if I was supposed to start a conversation or keep my mouth shut. Annabeth, unlike a lot of demigods, was very hard to read.

Thankfully, she put me out of my misery. 'Frank,' she asked, somewhat abruptly, 'could I ask you for some strategic advice? Hypothetical of course.'

A little puzzled by the last part of her sentence, I shrugged. 'Sure?'

Annabeth took her time getting her thoughts together. 'Say you possess something very powerful... a weapon that could be a major game changer. Where would you hide it?'

'Wait,' I frowned, 'why would I hide it? Why won't I _use_ it?'

Annabeth looked at me as though I was an idiot. 'Because when you possessed it, there wasn't a massive war happening.'

'Oh.' I did a quick mental slap. 'Of course.'

Another uncomfortable silence pervaded and I wondered if Annabeth had revaluated her perception of my abilities. Clearly my father's supposed strategic prowess was _not_ genetic.

Suddenly, something occurred to me.

'This might be a really obvious theory,' I drummed my fingers on my thigh nervously, 'but the saying "it's in the last place you looked" would be really appropriate here.'

Annabeth's eyes narrowed calculatingly. 'Elaborate.'

Hurriedly, I tried to find the correct words for my argument. 'Hiding something powerful isn't easy. Since it's so powerful, I'm going to assume a lot of people are after it.'

'Correct.' Annabeth nodded.

'_Since_ a lot of people are after it; where would be the last place they would look?'

'That's what I'm asking you.' Annabeth pointed out, exasperatedly.

I stared out across the deck and watched Jason and Percy trade blows. Wasn't the answer apparent to her?

'I'd hide it in the most _obvious_ place. Right in my enemy's backyard.'

Annabeth thought over my words as Jason and Percy executed complicated manoeuvres. There styles were so jarringly dissimilar that I half expected both of them to just give up because it was such a shock to their system.

At length Annabeth found her voice. 'It's a good theory,' she allowed, 'but the most obvious place could be _your _backyard as well.'

'Fair enough,' I conceded, 'but if it were in my territory, I'd put a whole lot of defences around it... which would kind of give the game away.'

Annabeth didn't seem convinced. 'Theoretically, I'd agree with you. But can, you, in good conscience, place something so powerful in your enemy's hands?'

'It isn't about _my _conscience,' I defended (coincidentally just as Jason was also doing at the moment from Percy's barrage), 'it's about the people seeking it out.'

Remembering a few lines from the book my father had given me, I continued, 'strategy is psychology; and in this case, _their _psychology. The people who want it so desperately wouldn't in a million years let it out of their sight. They'd keep it close, and would therefore assume that _I_ would keep it close.'

By Annabeth's silence, I thought I'd offended her. Unwilling to look and reinforce my theory, I kept my gaze on the deck, which in hindsight, wasn't the best thing to do. Hazel and Leo were sitting so close together that a Chihuahua couldn't have fit between them.

'Huh,' Annabeth finally said, 'you might just teach me a thing or two Frank Zhang.'

Unexpectedly, her approval made warmth bloom inside my stomach. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a half smile on her face. I was such a sucker for compliments.

So of course, I went out of my way to screw it all up immediately.

'Any reason in particular why you're looking for the other Pearl?'

The words were out of my mouth before I could stop them. Horrified, I tried to apologise at once.

'I'm sorry; I didn't mean to—!'

'It's okay.' Annabeth's expression was more on the side of weariness than annoyance, 'I didn't disguise that too well, did I?'

'No,' I agreed cautiously.

Annabeth sighed and rubbed her eyes. 'Could you do me a favour Frank?'

'Don't tell anyone that you're looking for the Pearl?' I guessed.

She smiled wanly. 'You're on fire today.'

'I won't say a word.' I promised, deciding not to add that with the way things were going lately, I didn't really _have _anyone to say a word to.

Annabeth looked vastly relieved. 'Thanks,' she blew her cheeks out, 'it's not like it's a huge deal—'

The rest of her words were drowned out by a loud yelp. Startled, I was on my feet in a moment, reaching for my bow, convinced that we were being attacked.

Annabeth had her dagger drawn, right beside me.

'What in the world...?' She wondered out loud.

I blinked several times too, trying to take in the scene before me. Percy had dropped his sword and was on his knees, right hand clutched to his chest. And dripping from said hand was an unmistakable scarlet liquid.

'Everyone back,' Jason commanded, waving away the other onlookers, 'move back!'

Annabeth and I ignored his words and surged forward—as did Leo, Hazel and Piper. We formed a protective ring around Percy who seemed more amazed by the fact that he was hurt than he was in pain. There was no doubt about the fact that his hand was bleeding, I could see the blood on the deck as well as on Jason's sword.

'Percy?' I asked, worriedly, 'are you okay?'

'Fine.' He muttered, getting to his feet, 'I just—_wow_, I forgot how much this stings.'

We all exchanged nervous glances. What was going on? Wasn't the Curse of Achilles supposed to prevent this sort of injury? _Unless his Achilles spot has been hit_, I thought to myself, _in which case he should be dead by now_. Besides, who put their sole weak place on their _hand_?

'Hey, Perce?' Piper, well, piped up, 'remind me again how the Curse works?'

'Obviously not like this.' Jason said guiltily. I noticed he was trying to wipe the blood off his sword.

Out of all of us, Leo was the only one who didn't look as though the apocalypse was starting. 'Even heroes have the right to bleed...' He quoted, in a suspiciously familiar tune.

I glared at him. 'You're singing "Superman" _now_? Seriously?'

Leo didn't look apologetic. 'Seemed appropriate.'

'The point being,' Jason intervened before I could say anything, 'what's going on?'

Percy examined his hand with interest, as though he couldn't quite get over the fact that he was hurt. 'Strange,' he tilted his palm experimentally, 'is blood usually so dark?'

We all stared at him.

'What?' He asked defensively, 'I was just wondering...' he trailed off, an expression of supreme confusion taking its place, 'what did you say?'

'I said,' Jason repeated patiently while the rest of us looked bemused, 'what's going on?'

Percy shook his head. 'No, something else...' He glanced to his right, far off into the horizon.

Wondering if the cut on his hand somehow translated into a loss of intelligence, I gently steered him back to the topic.

'We should probably get that hand patched up.'

'Not before we figure out what went wrong.' Jason declared, 'maybe it was something he ate—or drank?'

'Couldn't be.' Leo disagreed, 'we both had the noodles for lunch.'

'But you don't have the Curse of Achilles, do you?' I pointed out snidely, feeling inordinately pleased by the fact I'd managed to insult him without changing the topic.

Leo, however, turned out to be a match for me. 'Which stands to reason that I'd be dying right now since I wouldn't have the Curse to protect me.'

'Trust me,' I muttered, without missing a beat, 'I wish you were.'

'Frank!' Hazel threw me a scandalized look.

I gritted by teeth and scuffed my shoe against the deck. Why did she have to stand up for him all the time? Didn't I, having known her longer, get automatic protection rights?

Percy turned his head sharply, 'what did you say?'

Jason took a deep breath, obviously fighting for control. 'We're talking about what you ate!'

'Or didn't eat.' Leo added.

'Or ate but didn't die of.' I said, eyeing Leo speculatively. What is too much to hope that he'd somehow collapse because of an unknown –and yet horribly fatal– disease?

Jason sighed, 'stop it you two, you're confusing him.'

'Maybe that's a symptom?' Leo suggested.

'If it is, then it definitely came from the noodles.' I couldn't help but throw out; knowing Leo would pick up on the underlying meaning.

Sure enough, he flushed slightly. 'I have ADHD—it isn't the same thing.'

'Uh huh,' I made sure to keep my tone dismissive, 'if that's what floats your boat.'

This time both Jason and Hazel tossed me "what's wrong with you?" glances. The former's was slightly more wintry. Oddly enough, I saw sympathy in Piper's eyes instead of anger.

'The sword.' Annabeth suddenly mumbled, but I was too busy having a glaring contest with Leo to register what she said properly.

'Tell me,' Leo said loudly, 'how many Canadians does it take to change a light bulb?'

'Leo!' Piper whacked his arm.

'I don't know,' I replied coolly, 'how many traitors does it take to lose a war?'

'Frank!' Hazel exclaimed.

'It's the sword,' Annabeth said again, 'why didn't I see it earlier?'

'Jason,' Percy blinked, disoriented, 'did you say something?'

Leo's hands were balled into fists, and suddenly all I could think about what if he burst into flames right at the moment, I wouldn't stand a chance. We were standing so close that the stick in my pocket was entirely capable of combusting just by the heat he would have radiated.

'You know what Frank,' a hammer appeared in Leo's hand, 'if you have a problem with me, I'd be glad to sort it out.'

'Oh you can actually use that thing?' I retorted, ignoring my self-preservation instinct which was screaming at me to shut the hell up, 'and here I thought you used a knife—considering all the backstabbing you do.'

Jason stepped between us, 'okay, timeout. Leo, put away your weapon.'

'Why?' Leo demanded, 'he's the one who started it!'

'Really?' My voice rose on its own, 'did _I _start it when you led us straight to Gaia?'

'For the last time!' Leo yelled, 'I did what my dad told me to do!'

'Like father like son, then.' I bit out, viciously.

Piper joined Jason in the middle. 'Guys, people are staring; can we not get into this now?'

But her charmspeak had no effect on me. Blood was rushing into my ears and all the resentment I felt for Hazel was converting itself quite miraculously into hatred for Leo.

'Let them stare,' I threw off Jason's restraining arm, 'let them know what a _great_ hero Leo is.'

'Frank, seriously, shut up!' Jason hissed.

'Guys, tell me, do you hear that?' Percy asked, his tone making it clear he had absolutely no idea that a miniature war was happening right in front of him.

'No Frank,' Leo egged me on, his eyes bright with anger, 'go on. Why don't you tell them what happened. Then you can ruin our chances of winning this war forever.'

'You mean after you nearly ruined our chances when you betrayed us?'

Hazel looked like she was ready to cry. 'Will both of you please stop this nonsense?'

'Not until he apologises!' I shouted.

'For what?' Leo yelled back, 'for betraying you or for stealing your girlfriend? Which one? You want me to say "sorry" because Hazel prefers me over you?'

His words punched me in the gut. Sure, I'd convinced myself that I was ready for such an event. I had taken back my stick, right? I had decided not to fight for Hazel, right? But hearing it aloud, made me feel as though I was dying anyway. Barely able to breathe, I turned to Hazel. 'You like him better than me...?'

'Frank, no!' There was no longer any doubt about it, Hazel was definitely crying now, 'I don't like anyone better than anyone.'

'Except for me,' Leo added, sardonically.

'Leo, shut up!' Piper hit him again, harder this time.

'Stay out of this Beauty Queen,' he snapped, 'just because you can't have your Prince Charming doesn't mean Hazel can't have hers.'

A look of extreme outrage crossed Jason's face. 'What's that supposed to mean?'

'Nothing!' Piper insisted, 'Leo doesn't know what he's talking about!'

'Unbelievable,' I shook my head and gazed at Hazel, very aware that I was breaking all the rules I'd so carefully constructed, 'how can you stand him when he can't even keep a conversation with his friend private?'

Hazel's eyes were like molten gold. 'Frank, this isn't like you.'

'No it isn't,' I agreed, as Jason questioned Piper loudly over Leo's statement and Percy mentioned something weird once again, 'but you didn't like the earlier me either. What have I to lose?'

Hazel opened her mouth to argue when—

'Can everyone just CUT IT OUT?'

Conversation ceased at once, because when Annabeth Chase was furious, and you could actually _hear _her being furious, you knew you were in deep trouble. Suddenly, I was aware of the cloud of anger that had over taken my head and suddenly, I couldn't quite believe I'd said the things I'd said.

I couldn't keep holding a grudge against Leo because of what he'd done. Honestly, I wasn't even sure if that bothered me anymore. The insane jealousy Leo evoked in me, only because he hung out with Hazel made me wonder for the first time if Mars hadn't made a mistake by claiming me.

That instinct to antagonize. That instinct to fight. That conviction that spilling blood was the only way to end an argument.

What was _wrong _with me?

'What is wrong with all of you?' Annabeth echoed, 'are you all so involved in your petty disputes that you've forgotten the real problem?'

None of us answered her. What kind of heroes were we if we couldn't even look out for our own?

One by one, we all turned to stare at Percy's cut hand. The blood had long since dried, lending his skin a weird purple colour around the slice. Percy himself seemed to come out of the daze he was in, and blinked at his hand in acute amazement.

'How did this _happen_?' He asked, his brow furrowing.

After an uncomfortable silence Leo said, 'I think we can agree it wasn't the noodles.'

Some nasty part of me reared its ugly head, wanting to quarrel, but I quashed it down. Hazel's tear stained face was enough to make me want to crawl on the floor and beg for forgiveness. I was sure that I'd destroyed any chances of her liking me ever and strangely enough; I didn't care anymore. I just wanted her to be happy. Even if it was with Leo.

'It wasn't the noodles,' Annabeth nodded, 'it was the blade.'

Percy frowned, 'what?'

'Jason's blade,' Annabeth explained, 'is made from Imperial Gold which as a Roman blessing. The Curse of Achilles is—'

'—a Greek blessing.' Jason finished, 'but how are you sure?'

'I'm not.' Annabeth admitted, 'Piper, could you please?'

Going by everyone else's expressions, I wasn't the only one struck by the odd request. If anyone had to test the theory, it should have been Percy himself. For the sake of the argument that Percy couldn't deliberately hurt himself, it should have then been Annabeth as she was the closest one to him with a Celestial Bronze weapon.

Nevertheless, Piper acquiesced. Reaching across, she pulled out her dagger –a shining triangular piece blade– and with a quick jerk, pressed it into Percy's hand.

The point didn't sink even a millimetre into his skin.

'Are you pressing hard enough?' Jason wanted to know.

Piper scowled. 'Any harder and I'll break the metal.' She raised her eyebrows at Percy, 'do you feel that?'

Percy shrugged. 'I feel it as in I _know _it's there... it doesn't hurt though.'

'Well,' Annabeth said after a moment, 'it seems I'm correct.'

'This is ridiculous,' I stated, struck by the weirdness of the situation, 'how can Percy be invulnerable if Imperial Gold can hurt him? The Curse of Achilles has false advertising.'

Annabeth's grey eyes turned a shade darker. 'First of all,' she said in biting tones, 'Percy is _nearly _invulnerable. There's a difference.'

Leo snorted. 'It's the same thing, isn't it?'

Annabeth, evidently, didn't agree. 'Second of all,' she continued, ignoring Leo, 'Greek and Roman demigods were never supposed to mix. The Curse works perfectly well against Greek weapons.'

'And torpedoes.' Jason added, smirking slightly. The smile fell off his face when Annabeth turned to glare at him.

I examined Percy to see how he was taking the news, but he had his head cocked to one side as though he was listening intently to something. His expression was distant.

'So... what do we do?' Piper asked, worriedly.

I glanced around and found that several people were trying their best to listen in on the conversation. The Stolls, for one, weren't even trying to hide it. And upstairs on the balcony, Dakota and Larry had abandoned their conversation and were examining us intently. Anthony was nowhere to be seen.

Jason arrived at the same conclusion as I did. 'We don't mention this to anyone.' He threw a cautionary look at us, 'I don't think it's a good idea to tell people that Percy has a weakness.'

'I think most people know that Percy has a weakness anyway.' Piper pointed out, not bothering to move her gaze from Annabeth.

'Regardless,' Jason insisted, 'this stays between us. Okay?'

After all of us murmured our consent. I tried to catch Hazel's eye, hoping to mouth an apology at the very least, but she deliberately refused to look at me. Or at Leo for that matter. I tried not to acknowledge it, but that fact made me feel a little better.

'Percy?' Jason asked after a moment, 'you should get some nectar on that wound.'

Percy scratched his chin, puzzled. 'In a moment,' he muttered and moved quite abruptly, away from us, towards the railing along the edge of the deck.

Jason scowled. 'What is _up _with him?'

'Good question,' Leo turned and cupped his hands around his mouth, 'hey Perce: what's up with you?'

'Nice move, Valdez,' Piper rolled her eyes; 'now everyone knows he's being weird.'

'Big deal.' Leo shrugged, 'I promised to not say anything about his weakness. Didn't make any deal to not mention that he's loony.'

An irrational urge to protect my friend rose within me. 'He's _not _loony.' I said frostily.

Leo didn't give any sign of hearing me. 'Hm, maybe it _was _the noodles. I have a strange urge to jump off the ship as well.'

It took a lot of effort, but I managed not to rise to the bait. Meanwhile, Annabeth was chewing her lip worriedly.

'Something's wrong.' She stated, sounding remarkably sure for someone who had nothing to go on except for disinterested behaviour.

Jason certainly thought as much. 'How do you know?'

'I just do—'

She didn't get to finish her sentence because at that moment Percy sprang away from the edge as though he'd been stung. Landing awkwardly, he flapped his hands like a maniac.

'Guys! Something's wrong!'

'It's like they're twins.' Leo commented.

Nobody had time to laugh at his joke for two reasons.

One: something powerful smacked the underside of the ship so hard that for a few seconds, my feet left the deck behind and ventured into the air.

Two, (and this was kind of needless given the event that had preceded it) the GQ alarm began to wail.

* * *

For a second, time seemed to slow down. The sun was still shining; the ocean was still startlingly blue. A cool breeze blew by, ruffling our clothes. Travis and Connor Stoll were still in the midst of exchanging brightly coloured mock-tails for the other to taste.

For one second, my dream cruise ship scenario was still intact.

Then, something pummelled the underside of the _Argo II _again and the scenario shattered. I was thrown off my feet because of it and went sailing across the deck, narrowly missing a ledge which could've decapitated me.

My Roman training kicked in and I came out of the fall with an A+ roll that even Lupa would have complimented. Thankfully, my bow and quiver were sturdy enough to not break upon impact.

'Frank!' Percy shouted.

I turned and found him only a foot away. Everyone else was scattered across the deck, getting to their feet painfully. The GQ alarm reached a higher pitch, and for the umpteenth time I wondered _why _the makers of the ship had chosen such a terrible noise to notify the crew of imminent danger.

Though I suppose, my favourite, a Unicorn whispering, would also be poor alarm choice.

'What's happening?' I demanded joining Percy at the exit which led off the deck.

'We're being attacked.' Percy gasped and wrenched the door open.

'By what?!'

Jason appeared behind us, and together we fell into the corridor beyond the door. In front of us, I could see demigods running around, trying to get to their GQ positions as soon as they soon as could.

The ship shuddered again and I only just stopped myself from falling forward. Jason wasn't so lucky; he tripped on my foot and went sprawling along the carpet, whacking his head in the process.

'Ow.' He muttered, grasping for something to help him up.

Percy brushed past me and pulled him up, breaking into a run for the far end of the corridor. Exchanging glances, Jason and I followed him, just as Leo, Piper and the Stoll brothers came through the doorway.

'So what's attacking us?' Jason prompted and we went shimmying down the ladders on to the level below.

The ship got lurched crazily and I missed my footing, dropping the rest of the way. My descent was broken by one of Ananbeth's sisters. Emily, I think her name was. I only remembered it because of my mother.

'Sorry.' I grimaced, testing my ankle which had taken the brunt of my weight.

She didn't spare me a single glance and latched on to Percy. 'There's a Sea Monster attacking the ship!'

Percy didn't look surprised. 'I know.'

'I don't!' Jason huffed, dangling from the ladder by the one leg which had gotten stuck.

I reached across and tilted his foot back so that he crumpled on to the floor with a heap.

'Thanks Frank,' he glared at me and brushed himself off before turning to Emily. 'Sea Monster—what kind?'

The _Argo II _groaned under another attack. Several lights along the corridor shattered under the impact. Upstairs I could hear people yelling to get out of the way. Downstairs I could hear more people yelling to stay in position. Towards my left, was an open door which led to a small ledge. On that ledge stood Pique, one of my fellow legionaries. His mouth was open in shock as he took in whatever was in front of him—out of my line of sight.

'The worst kind.' I guessed and dug my communicator out of my pocket. Somebody in Comm. was screaming at me to get to one of the guns.

Jason's eyes narrowed in concentration. 'There's no point shooting at it; it's too close, we'll just hurt ourselves.'

Percy nodded, and spoke into his communicator. 'Comm., get every crew member who isn't on the on Watch on to the main deck. We're fighting this thing the old fashioned way.'

'Frank,' Jason grabbed on to me for support when the ship tilted alarmingly, 'get up to the nest. We need some archers.'

Emily nodded, 'I'll come with you.'

Together, we raced down the corridor. We could have just gone back up the ladder I'd just come down, but that was one of the main links between the levels since it went all the way through. Everyone would be crowding around it.

The Sea Monster obviously had an issue with the _Argo II _because it just couldn't seem to lay off it for even a few seconds. Every other hit send Emily and me into walls, or doors, or other demigods. Just as we got the level below the nest, the ship took a mighty push to one side.

Emily was smart enough to grab on to the ladder. I, however, went flying across the room again and crashed into somebody else. Blinking away the spots, I focused on the blurry face in front of me.

'Zac Efron?'

The face scowled as it came into focus. 'No,' it said shortly and helped me up, 'why does everyone think I look like him?'

Emily came running up to join us, 'because you _do _look like him, Austin.' She steadied me and pointed to the pole up to the nest, 'let's go! We have an ugly thing to punch holes into!'

Austin muttered something about "not looking like a geek" and hefted his bow to one side as he began to climb.

'Son of Apollo?' I guessed, following him.

'Yeah,' he called down to me, 'you as well?'

I shook my head, and then remembered he couldn't see me. 'Son of Mars. Nice to meet you.'

His response died away, as both of us climbed out of the hole in the flooring and took in the view before us. It could have passed off as postcard material except for the ugly green thing bang in the middle of it.

'What _is _that?!' Austin yelled, forgetting that I was only a foot away from him.

The Sea Monster –for the thing was undoubtedly that– looked like a cross between a serpent and a dragon. It towered some ten feet above us, its fangs bared open as it inspected the ship deck with almost cruel amusement. The rest of its body sparkled in the sun, throwing green spots everywhere. It was clearly waiting for something to happen

Three stories below us, the heroes on the main deck whimpered.

Something clanged on the ladder in the floor next to me and about a dozen other crew members climbed out, bows being held at the ready. Leading them was Will Solace, his blue eyes widening in surprise.

'Comm. rerouted us.' He explained, and unslung his bow, 'we're providing cover fire.'

Max joined me, 'don't look like they need it though.' He commented, referring to the thirty armed demigods on the main deck, 'why is nothing happening?'

Which was the same question I was asking myself. The monster had a distinct height and size advantage and yet seemed to be content with staring at us in that annoying, "I'm-better-than-you-haha" way.

Jason decided to break the status quo. With a loud yell, he hefted a spear and threw it straight into the monster's nose.

All hell broke loose after that.

With a wounded roar, the monster dived downwards, swatting Jason aside like he was an irksome fly. The demigods on the deck scattered to avoid the deadly fangs and something –the monster's tail probably– smacked the _Argo II _from beneath, sending everyone rolling. People screamed (in equal parts of terror and adrenalin) and swords and spears were pulled out, trying to hack into the monster's body.

The tail appeared on the starboard side of the ship and flew with unerring aim into what I thought was the Bridge. A level beneath my feet, glass cracked and wood splintered. The _Argo II _rocked under the assault and the monster's head rose from the main deck, his fangs bared.

Reacting quickly, I let fly an arrow, only to have it rebound off the monster's skin and get tossed into the ocean. Suddenly I realized why the Sea monster was shining so much—his skin was actually armoured scales.

'Volley!' Max hollered, before I could stop him.

Arrows flew, hitting the monster and rebounding off. Some went into the ocean, others fell back on to the main deck and a couple came whizzing back to greet its projectors.

The monster didn't take too kindly to being shot at, even if he couldn't feel anything. His head whipped around, and he rose and dived at the nest.

The other archers scrambled away, but I tripped over someone and fell on to my back. Acid dripped from the monster's jaws and sizzled through the wood, mere feet from my hands. The yellow eyes sized me up and somehow I _knew _that if the monster could talk, it would be saying something like:

_I've got you now!_

I mumbled something heroic like, 'please don't eat me.'

A whistling noise sounded and an arrow flew past me into the monster's injured snout. From behind I heard Emily shriek,

'Take that ugly!'

The Sea Monster roared, spraying acid everywhere. I rolled out of the way, hastily wiping off the flecks before it could get through my clothes. Suddenly, my mind when blank with fear: could the acid burn my stick? Hands scrabbling over the inner pocket, I ripped at my shirt.

The ship pitched as the monster writhed in agony, and I flew forward for the third time in the day. I crashed into Austin and Max and together we pounded into the safety railing. My half burned piece of wood slipped out of my fingers and _fell through the bars, into empty space. _

'NO!' I yelled, pushing against the bars in a futile attempt to catch it, 'no, come back!'

The _Argo II _tilted some more, creating a forty-five degree angle with the ocean. More people slammed to me, and I distinctly heard a _crack_ as Jessica –one of the Apollo kids from Camp Jupiter– hit the railing head first. A gash opened up along her hairline and her eyes went strangely unfocused.

I was still struggling to move, but thanks to the combined weight of the people on me, I was stuck where I was. Gathering my wits, and praying to my dad to keep the stick safe, I grabbed Jessica and attempted to pull her out.

'Move!' I shoved the person behind me, 'we have an injury! Make some space!'

Austin heard and he unceremoniously booted Larry –who was the main reason none of us could move– in the butt.

'What the hell?' Larry sputtered, his face purple. I didn't know if that was from rage or the lack of air.

At that moment, the Sea Monster retreated from the nest and disappeared below, to deal with the army of swords on the main deck. The ship righted itself as the weight of the monster changed places, and about half of us on the nest got thrown to the other side.

Luckily, I wasn't one of them.

I grabbed on to Jessica, as did Austin and together we held on grimly. My stomach was a roiling mess of fear, from both the loss of my stick and the fact that Jessica was now basically bleeding all over me. Who knew head wounds were so messy?

'How bad is she?' I shouted, over the bellows of the Sea Monster as it reared its ugly head and thrashed around, trying to get rid of Percy who was on its snout, poking it repeatedly with his sword.

Austin murmured a quick song –or was it a hymn? – and Jessica's eyes fluttered open.

'Zac Efron?' She asked dreamily.

I would have laughed, except for the horrifying sight I'd just caught sight of. Will Solace was aiming an arrow at the monster's only weak spot—it's eyes. The problem? The arrow belong to me (he must have picked out the nearest he could find) and was made from Imperial Gold. If the arrow missed its target, it could prove potentially fatal for Percy.

Will didn't know that.

And I didn't have the time to explain it to him.

So I did the only natural thing. With a running leap, I jumped and knocked him off balance. The bow swerved, and the arrow zipped across the deck, nearly impaling Larry.

'What the hell?' Will struggled under me, 'what's happening?'

'Sorry,' I clambered off him, 'lost my footing.'

Coughing and swearing he got to his feet, glaring at me. 'Well, _watch _you footing Zhang!'

'Hey!' Max appeared next to me, his face set in grim lines, 'maybe you should watch _your _arrows, Greek.' He waved to Larry who was still shaking from the near death experience, 'kid nearly died over there.'

'Well if it wasn't for Frank here—!' Will began hotly but another roar from the Sea Monster interrupted him. It had thrown Percy off and was back to terrorizing the main deck, its tail alternately thumping the underside of the _Argo II _and pushing it from side to side.

'How about we argue later?' I suggested, 'that thing isn't going to kill itself.'

Max and Will seemed inclined to disagree, but I'd already moved off to find my bow and quiver. Around me, the other archers were getting to their feet but they didn't seem to know what to fire at, rebounding arrows could worsen the problem.

I picked up my weapons and hopped to the front, trying to get a sense of what was happening. The main deck was in absolute chaos with the crew divided along the body of the monster. Several were hacking at it but they weren't making much progress. Several others were injured. But most were standing around indecisively, their heads swinging from side to side as others shouted orders.

Suddenly, I saw a glint of a very familiar helmet—Hazel.

Except she wasn't fighting, she was moving very purposely to something I couldn't see. Heart in my mouth, I ran down the edge, trying to follow her progress.

Behind me, I heard Max yell 'aim for the eyes' and I hit the floor to make sure I didn't get caught in the fire.

The Sea Monster howled with pain and came at the nest, fangs out. This time we were better prepared, and I swung around and put another arrow into his right eye, which it didn't appreciate much.

Whipping around, it rose up another ten feet and then flung itself down on the nest. Ignoring the people firing, it repeated the process several times, almost as though it was throwing a tantrum.

'What is it _doing_?' Austin yelled, as he reloaded and fired. The arrow missed and rebounded off the snout, before embedding itself in the floor.

I nocked an arrow as well but didn't let it go. It would have been optimism bordering on foolishness to hope that from the angle I had, my arrow would find its mark. I tried to step forward, but the monster's acid had pooled in large quantities and had trapped everyone into little islands.

Too late, my brain connected the dots.

'Get off the nest!' I screamed, just as the monster slammed into the floor again. There was one awful moment when everyone was too stunned to move. Then, with an aggrieved groan, the floor beneath my feet –weakened by the chemicals which had eaten into it and by the pounding it'd received– gave way and I (and several others) fell three stories down to the main deck.

The Good News: My fall was broken by a variety of people.

The Bad News: The edge of someone's shield caught my temple and my vision went multicoloured for a moment.

I struggled to stay conscious—passing out in the middle of a war zone wouldn't be the best for me. All around I heard people yelling and screaming, their voices merging into a mindless cacophony. Beneath my hands, the deck was slick with seawater and something else which was far more viscous.

Blinking, I focused on my hand: a purplish liquid was drying on my fingers, causing them to itch and burn.

A hand grabbed me and pulled me up but I was too confused to see who it was. Swaying on my feet –I think headrush had contributed to being me so disoriented– I stumbled to the railing, hoping for something to steady me.

And then I saw it: my stick of wood.

It lay there, untouched by all the rubble lying around it.

Something resembling a human cry of surprise escaped my mouth. I ran forward, nearly falling in my excitement to get there. Out of the corner of my eye I saw someone –one of the Athena kids, Malcolm– step far too close to it and I jumped forward, pushing him out of the way so that I could get to my stick.

I think my heart might have stopped beating from the sheer relief I felt, once my hands closed around it.

'Watch out!'

Heeding the unknown warning, I dived sideways and narrowly missed the monster's tail which had appeared from nowhere. My arm stung and I realized I'd rolled straight into a pile of broken glass.

The Sea Monster's shadow engulfed me. Looking up, I saw Jason and Percy clearly, sawing away into the serpent-like neck with their swords. Purple blood poured off the wound and the monster thrashed, trying to get rid of them. Its protests were considerably weaker though and even as the ship rolled, the vibrations were dying away.

Across the deck, the others were going all out against the body, trying to distract the monster from focusing on Jason and Percy. The tail whipped around and took off several feet of safety railing.

Clutching my stick in one hand, I retreated. There was nothing I could do really. I was unarmed and completely defenceless. And turning into an elephant would serve no purpose at all.

The tail disappeared into the water again, and I braced myself against one of the support beams, knowing what was to follow. Sure enough, the ship shuddered and began pitching. Malcolm went rolling past me and I stuck my foot out to stop him from hitting anything.

The _Argo II _groaned and tilted further. People fell past me and slammed into the railing, or walls, or other people. Suddenly, I realized, the monster wasn't just playing with us anymore: it wanted to capsize the vessel.

The ocean came closer and closer and gravity pulled my legs off the deck and made me dangle like some ridiculous Christmas ornament. My arm (singular, because the other was occupied with the stick,) burned with the effort of holding up my weight. Beside me Malcolm swore and tried to throw his sword at the tail which had crept up on the side.

It was only by that image which made me understand how _long_ the monster really was. It'd wrapped its way all around the ship –much like a boa did with its prey – and was pulling it into the ocean.

Hardly anyone was left on the other side of the deck now (it pointed straight up into the sky like Titanic), except for a couple of people.

One I recognized immediately, by the helmet.

'Hazel.' I breathed, feeling a strange tightness in my chest that had nothing to do with breathlessness.

Next to me, Malcolm grunted. 'No, I'm Malcolm.'

I ignored him. My chest tightened again, inexplicably. I threw my gaze across the deck, hoping to figure out what was wrong. Nothing really stood out (aside for the various demigods suspended in air) and my eyes roamed over rubble, glass, broken weapons and missing chunks of safety railing...

...that Hazel was right above.

The ship tipped further, the chassis groaning under what it was being put through. Jason and Percy continued to battle the Sea Monster's head. Malcolm swore to give up smoking if he'd make it out alive.

I heard none of it.

Because, right at that moment, Hazel lost her grip.

I heard her scream. Above Jason's and Percy's war cries. Above the monster's agony filled snarls. Above the ship's emergency sirens.

I heard her scream.

I didn't even wait to think. With a mighty pull I threw myself across the deck, hands stretched out to intercept her. Thankfully, I was somewhere around the top side of the deck so that even though I lost height quickly, I still got across.

My skin burned with the friction and my hand caught hers. The sheer momentum of my falling body dragged us both further across and when we hit the edge, there was a length of safety railing to stop us from falling over.

Except, a large quaintly of acid had eaten through the structure.

The railing tore off.

I didn't consider the consequences. I dropped my stick and latched on to Hazel's armour with both hands, hooking my leg around the falling railing. My stick spun in the air and disappeared and for an agonizing moment, we continued to fall.

A sharp jerk which pretty much broke my ankle stopped us.

Gasping, I twisted and turned, concentrating only on Hazel's armour beneath my palms. The ocean, dark and mysterious, swirled ten feet below us.

'Frank,' Hazel squirmed, the rest of her words drowned in another roar from the Sea Monster above us.

'What?' I puffed, trying to block out my ankle's reproachful pleas to set the bone back, 'what did you say?'

Hazel tilted her head up and waved one hand, 'I have your stick!'

At that point I couldn't have cared less. Hazel was safe, that was all that mattered.

'Good for you.' I wheezed and twisted my head to see if there was any possible way I could drag us both back. My ankle was definitely broken and I couldn't rely on it to keep us hooked to the railing. Far above me, was the opposite side of the deck and looped around it like some weird rope was the monster's tail.

Something flashed in the bright sunlight, and when I narrowed my eyes I saw Annabeth standing suicidally on the safety railing on which tail was twisted around. Her armour had been the thing to catch my attention, and as I watched, she raised her hand and plunged something –dagger probably– into the tail.

The effect was instantaneous.

With a rifle like shot (that I heard above all the ambient noise: selective hearing I tell you) the tail unravelled itself and whacked Annabeth across her chest.

Thrown off balance, she plummeted sideways, missing the deck entirely.

'NO!' I struggled to move, but it was no use.

Annabeth smashed into the railing I was latched on to and with a silent hiss, it gave way beneath her weight. I threw my other leg out, hoping to catch on to something else, but found no purchase.

With a sickening _smack_, Annabeth's head hit the bronze plating on the outer surface of the ship, and together, the three of us fell into the ocean.


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: Sorry about taking so long. The thing is, this was a massive chapter to write—in fact it was so huge that I had to take a huge chunk off and separate it into another chapter. **

**So the good news is; that the next update should be tomorrow. **

**As always, thanks to my reviewers! Please, do continue to drop a line!**

* * *

**9) Don't Complain About Your Day...**

**Hazel-I.**

My day had not started well.

First, I'd woken up from a horrible nightmare which had involved me and Nico being suffocated to death under a ton of falling rock. Then, I'd had to skip breakfast because of a sudden attack of sea sickness that just _refused _to go away, despite all the medicine I'd taken. Max had reassured me that it was merely "mind over matter" or some such nonsense, but I didn't believe any of that.

In between, things got better and I'd had a lovely conversation with Leo and Piper regarding their lives and aspirations. That hadn't lasted long—Percy had gotten hurt, Frank and Leo had gotten into a huge argument, which, if I was honest with myself, I'd been expecting to happen and then, to cap it all off, some _thing _decided to attack the ship.

In keeping with the theme of the day, I got thrown backwards, right into the pile of weapons which had been kept on the side, in case anyone wanted to practice. The cluster of shields which provided my landing was by far, the worst thing to fall upon.

Groaning, and with a swimming head (from a combination of sea sickness, hunger and vertigo) I struggled out of the pile, cutting myself on one of the sharper blades.

'Hazel!'

Annabeth called hoarsely, from nearby. She'd been thrown in the same general direction as mine, but she'd missed the weapons and fallen right on to the wooden floor of the deck.

Her hand clasped mine and she helped me up.

The GQ alarm had already reached a crescendo and I could hear a lot of confused shouting. The voices closest were from the two Greek brothers –Stolls, I think their last names were– who were complaining loudly about being drenched by their beverage.

I shook my head, and forced myself to focus...

...just in time for the ship to rock under another attack. If it hadn't been for Annabeth's bracing arm, I would've fallen straight back into the weapons heap behind me. As it was, my stomach swirled in protest and I had to swallow several times to keep from throwing up.

'C'mon!' Annabeth dragged me forward, her other hand already clipping her listening device, the communicator, into her ear.

I stumbled after her, trailing behind the Stolls who were pushing their way to the door which led off the deck. Leo and Piper were there as well, and they were shouting too, except in between all the voices, I didn't really know what they were saying. Frank, Jason and Percy were nowhere to be seen.

'Everyone!' Annabeth said authoritatively as we crowded in the hallway, amidst much confusion, 'stop panicking! We've trained for this.'

'Have we?'

Anthony Webber emerged from one of the connected doorways, looking like he wanted to be sick.

'There's this—this, _monster _out in front and we...'

He trailed off, and silence descended over the group, except of course for the keening GQ alarm that was resounding everywhere. I leaned against the wall, trying to get my stomach to behave, while purposefully stopping my imagination from getting the better of me. Whatever we were facing, we could fight, even if Anthony Webber –one of Camp Jupiter's most seasoned warriors– thought otherwise.

Annabeth's expression didn't change. 'Report to your GQ positions at once—no wait!'

She put a hand up to her ear, reminding me that I was supposed to put in my listening device as well. It was standard protocol. I pushed my fingers into the relevant pocket and brought it out, trying to remember Leo's instructions of which side had the speakers.

'They're calling us out on deck to fight it.' Anthony filled us in, while Annabeth stayed silent, listening to further instructions.

Travis Stoll (or was it Connor?) wasn't thrilled by the new development. '_All _of us—?'

The _Argo II _shuddered mightily and we would all been thrown around had it not been for the narrow corridor. I tripped over someone's foot and went sliding into Leo, knocking us both back into the wall.

'Ouch.' Leo groaned, 'your elbow, Hazel.'

I backtracked at once, bumping into Piper. 'Sorry,' I said quickly and then turned around to repeat the same thing to Piper who was wincing about my heel which was jammed on her toes.

'Guys,' Annabeth called to us, 'gather your armour and weapons and report to the main deck. Standing orders.'

I tried to imagine how _that _was going to work, when Leo's sound of protest distracted me.

'I can't be on the deck!' Leo shook his head, 'My GQ is down in the engine room.'

'You aren't on Watch,' Anthony explained, bracing himself against the door as the _Argo II _heaved to one side again, 'everyone but Watch is supposed to be on deck.'

'I don't care,' Leo snapped, sounding unusually annoyed, 'my place is at the Engine Room and that's where I'm going.'

He sidestepped me, and pushed the Stolls out of the way, trying to cut a path to one of the ladders which would take him to the bowels of the ship. Unfortunately, for him, that path was blocked by Anthony.

'We have our orders,' Anthony's tone was cool, 'you can't just ignore them.'

For an instant, Leo wavered. But then, his eyes narrowed and when he spoke, he sounded like he was contemplating tossing a fireball down Anthony's throat.

'Look,' he said evenly, 'I'd _love _to be on the main deck—really_, _I _would!_ But it just so happens, that I'm needed near the engines.'

Anthony scowled. 'Says who?'

'Me.' Leo spread his hands, 'you know, the guy who built this ship!'

Annabeth intervened, 'Leo—'

'No!' Leo exclaimed, glancing from her to Anthony, 'I have to be there. You don't understand; I _have _to!'

Annabeth chewed her lip, while the rest of us waited in near silence. The ship was being attacked, and all we cared about was the very obvious power struggle happening in front of us. Annabeth, Anthony and Leo all had equal ranks and therefore couldn't order each other to do/not do anything.

At the same time, "standing orders" meant the call had come from right on top: the captain, who at this moment was Percy. By not doing what the captain wanted, Leo was showing insubordination, right in front of us: the crew.

Which then put Annabeth and Anthony in the very difficult position of either reporting him in or letting it slide. Factor in Leo's obvious superiority –as builder of the _Argo II_– and it was a political mess all right.

'Fine,' Annabeth allowed reluctantly, ignoring Anthony's outraged gasp, 'go. Send whoever's down there to the deck. We need the numbers.'

Leo didn't wait around to thank her, or get into another argument with Anthony.

'The rest of you,' Annabeth's eyes went steely as the ship groaned under the weight of another attack, pitching us into each other, 'get you weapons and armour. Move!'

* * *

I think we set a new record.

Twenty-five demigods, donning their armour and finding their weapons, all to assemble on the main deck in less than a minute? It was nothing short of a miracle.

I had my cavalry helmet, _spatha, _breastplate and arm greaves all tied down in a matter of seconds. The scabbard of the sword went over my shoulder so I wouldn't trip over it.

None of it helped me feel safe in the slightest—once we got a good look at the Sea Monster which was threatening the ship.

It was _huge._

Towering at a respectable fifty feet, with a bright green complexion and long sabre-tooth like fangs jutting out of its mouth, it would have won the "most dangerous looking monster" pageant hands down—if there was anything like that. Just looking at the width of its body (which at its narrowest was about the size of _me_) made me tremble.

I wasn't the only one. Around me, the rest of the crew, gleaming in their Imperial Gold and Celestial Bronze, let out a collective whimper.

There was silence, for about ten seconds, as we appraised the monster and the monster appraised us. The ocean breeze blew, ruffling our clothes. In the middle of the gathering, Jason and Percy stood side by side, swords drawn.

Then, Jason hefted a spear and threw it straight at the Sea Monster.

In hindsight, it was probably not the best move.

The monster lunged, moving impossibly fast for something so big. I barely had time to get out of the way, as the head came sliding down the deck, snapping at anything in its way. The ship rocked under another attack and this time I lost my footing and got thrown sideways, straight into a group of Greek demigods.

Our armour clashed and our weapons tangled. People screamed in confusion and my head swam, fighting off another bout of nausea. _Why, _I thought to myself angrily, getting to my feet, _did the stupid medicine not work? _

The ship shuddered, and I had to brace myself against the right side railing (or starboard side, if you were Percy Jackson and liked proper seaworthy terms) to prevent from falling.

Everyone else was scattered along the deck. Jason and Percy were desperately trying to battle the Sea Monster's fangs together, but they weren't doing a good job of it. The rest of the crew were in equal states of disorientation and acute fear.

Determined to help, and feeling slightly lightheaded, I drew my sword and swung into the monster's coiled body. The tip of my sword skidded across the skin, sending sparks flying. Thrown off balance, I fell forward, tripped over the length of the body and smashed my face into the main deck.

My right cheek burned on contact, as though I'd dipped my head into a pool of acid. The ship shuddered again and I rolled sideways, trying to get to my feet on the increasingly unstable floor.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw something –a thick green appendage– appear over the railing. Swooping across the deck, it smacked itself against, what I thought, was the outside structure of the Bridge.

The entire front section, which was basically wooden supports and windows, collapsed on impact.

Jason and Percy dove apart to avoid the falling debris, and above the roar of the fighting demigods, I heard a shrill scream, as though somebody had gotten trapped under the rubble.

Fighting the urge to throw up, I retreated, slipping over some purple substance coating the deck. When I tried to wipe off whatever was burning my cheek, my fingers came back stained purple. Monster saliva. Ew.

The burning, however, was the least of my problems. My shoulder ached from nearly being dislocated when I'd tried to attack the monster and my vision was alternately tunnelling and expanding.

'Stick together!' Jason shouted, taking advantage of the sudden respite, as the Sea Monster rose off the deck and attacked a higher portion of the ship, where the archers had assembled.

I grasped on to the nearest railing –port this time, I'd crossed the deck in all my movements– and wondered how in the world we were going to beat this thing, which was twice the size of the _Argo II_, and had impenetrable skin.

'Roman and Greek,' Jason hollered, waving his sword to get the dazed crew's attention, 'attack with different metals. Pair up! Roman and Greek!'

'What does that even mean?' Travis Stoll yelled back, from his position at the aft of the ship. How he'd gotten there I'd no idea—maybe he'd been tossed across when the ship had rolled?

Percy came into view. 'The skin is armoured,' he shouted, kindly informing us on something we already knew, 'using different metals against it will break the protection and—!'

The last bit was drowned in the Sea Monster's roar of agony. The green appendage (I finally figured out it was the tail!) reappeared and in one swift jerk, knocked over half the standing demigods –including Percy– before disappearing over the edge again.

Seconds later, the ship rocked under another underwater attack and pitched dangerously to one side. My hand got ripped from the railing and I went sliding across the deck, scrabbling to find some purchase.

Twisting, I grabbed on to a short wooden post which marked where the _Argo II's _main guns were stored. My shoulder slammed into someone else who'd also latched on to the post.

It was Annabeth.

'Don't let go!' She yelled in my ear—which was very sound advice indeed. I wasn't worried about falling into the sea, but if I hit the safety railing at such an angle, I'd probably break a rib.

The ship tilted further and several members of the crew, slid past, howling in anger. Near the fallen debris, I could see Jason and Percy trying to climb up the Sea Monster's body, using their swords as supports.

'Hazel!'

Annabeth's voice drew me away from the bizarre sight, (what were those boys trying to do exactly?) 'free your weapon!'

'_What?!_'

I was sure I'd misheard. My sword was currently on my back and drawing it meant losing one hand's grip on the post. Didn't Annabeth _just _tell me to not let go?

'Different metals,' Annabeth gasped, pointing with one wrapped finger to the nearest coil of the Sea Monster's body, 'we can damage it.'

Several things clicked into place at once. A long forgotten monster class I'd taken during my first month at camp came back to me. Some monsters had natural armour, which under ordinary circumstances, was very hard to crack. The only way to cut through it was to use weapons made of different metals –say copper and iron– together.

The explanation had something to do with quick healing properties, and confusing the monster's natural antibodies... I couldn't really remember, but now I knew was Jason and Percy had been trying to say.

Roman and Greek had to pair up. Celestial Bronze and Imperial Gold had to work together.

Ignoring the pain flaring in my right shoulder, I pulled out my sword. The nearest part of the monster's body was a good three feet away and attacking it meant letting go of the wooden post.

'On three,' Annabeth said through gritted teeth, 'one, two, three!'

Both of us lunged forward, and in one swift motion, sunk our blades into the monster skin, barely centimetres apart.

The effect was instantaneous.

(Which, in a way was lucky for us, because Annabeth and I were now sliding back across the deck.)

The Sea Monster bellowed and his head whipped around to find us. The sudden relocation of weight caused the ship to straighten out. Instead of falling backwards, I flew forwards, slammed my injured shoulder into the thick serpent body and flipped over it.

Annabeth disappeared from view.

I blinked the spots out of my eyes and searched for my sword. The Sea Monster's ugly head loomed above me, trying to shake Percy off its snout. As I watched, Percy swung his sword, but didn't appear to make any contact. The armour would be preventing him from making even the slightest of scratches.

'Pair up!'

Jason's booming command cut through the screams and snarls around me. I couldn't see him but I could hear him loud and clear—as though he'd attached an amplifier to his mouth.

'Roman and Greek!' He shouted, coming into view, even as Percy continued to entertain the nasty Sea Monster, 'attack it together—aargh!'

That last part was due to the fact that the monster had thrown Percy straight into him. They both disappeared into the rubble and the Sea Monster turned its head to the rest of us, fangs already bared in anticipation.

I rolled to the side, dodging the attack, and slipped over the purple saliva which was coating the deck. Jason's orders seemed to have made little effect on the rest of the crew. They stood together in packs, alternately scattering and coming back together as the Sea Monster attacked them.

Anthony Webber wasn't helping matters. 'Romans,' he screamed, 'stand together! Spears forward!'

'No!' I waved my arms, trying to get my Camp's attention, 'we have to work _with _the Greeks!'

But they didn't listen. The Romans stuck together, herded in by Webber's commands. The Greeks had no choice but to group together as well, for protection. I watched the crew divide along the body in despair—how were we going to beat this thing if we couldn't get past its armour?

I parried an attack from the tail, which had come up to join the fun, and moved up the deck, heading for the Greeks. Maybe if I joined them, it would help matters...

...the air vanished from my lungs as my eyes landed on a very familiar piece of wood lying twenty feet away from me, right on the edge of the debris.

_Frank's piece of wood. _

I didn't even wait to think about it. Dodging another attack I ran forward, trying not to slip on the monster's acid saliva. The ship shuddered and shifted in the water, its frame getting beaten by the tail. (The head had gone up to deal with the archers again.) I neared the pile of broken glass, hoping against hope that the wood wouldn't fall over the side. It was dangerously close to the edge.

The ship rocked and I fell straight into Jason and Percy who'd just emerged from the rubble. My injured shoulder protested loudly when it crashed into Jason's breastplate and Percy had to duck aside to avoid the tip of my Imperial Gold sword. His foot caught something, and he rolled to the deck.

'Hazel.' Jason groaned.

I blinked away the tears of pain and crawled off him, too dizzy to stand. Above me, I could hear a strange mixture of angry shouts from the crew and loud thumps, almost as though an elephant was dancing on the deck. Behind me, the Greeks attacked the body, their swords and spears sliding off the armoured skin.

I inched forward and reached out. The charred piece of wood was barely three feet away—

Somebody screamed. That sound was followed by an ominous groan, and the miniature cracks appeared in the support beams next to me. I glanced up, just as the nest, on which the archers had assembled, crumpled.

A body slammed into me so hard that I was lifted _off _the ground and thrown across the deck, missing the bulk of the falling wood. Glass shattered like a fountain, and rained down, cutting into my exposed face and hands.

My vision spun, and for a brief moment went completely black. I turned on my side and pulled myself across the deck, latching on to the port side safety railing.

_The stick, _I thought blearily, _I missed Frank's stick._

A thick well of shame rose, nearly suffocating me but I pushed it down. His lifeline wasn't mine to protect any longer—he'd made that abundantly clear when he'd asked for it back. And I'd tried everything to save it. It _wasn't _my fault that I'd failed.

'Romans,' Anthony's voice sounded surprisingly near, 'hold the line! Push it back!'

I blinked, and reality rushed to welcome me back in.

"It" appeared to be the monster's head which had looped around and was trying to eat the battling demigods. Its tail had come up from the side again and was whipping like a rattlesnake, knocking down anybody stupid enough to stand still for a moment.

A gust of wind rose up, and Jason used it to vault on to the Sea Monster's neck. At the same time, Percy took a running leap off the piles of debris and caught Jason's outstretched hand. Together, they sunk their swords into the monster's hide.

The Sea Monster screamed in agony and thrashed about, trying to throw them off.

I picked up my fallen sword and rushed forward, joining Piper who was repeatedly stabbing the body with her triangular blade.

'Centre mark!' She yelled, pointing out where she was going to hit next. I lifted my sword and joined her, breaking through the armour.

'Duck!' I pulled her down, narrowly avoiding the tail which had sprung up. It missed us, but proceeded down the deck and took off a line of safety railing before disappearing into the water.

The Sea Monster roared again, spraying acid everywhere. The drops rained down on us, sizzling exposed flesh, and eating into the armour. Piper and I dived apart as the monster's head snapped near us.

The ship pitched suddenly, and I threw out my injured arm to catch on to something. My sword slipped through my grasp and slid down the deck. I wriggled around, and caught the railing with my other arm, hoping to take the pressure off my injured one.

The _Argo II _groaned as it tilted back further and further and Jason and Percy's yells grew more desperate as they tried to finish off the monster.

I heard people scrambling against the pull of gravity and Anthony Webber appeared next to me, his face ashen with the strain of hanging on. The armour we'd donned for protection was definitely working against us now.

'Hazel,' he shouted, 'we have to move! The railing below us—!'

Blank darkness extinguished everything.

The noise of battle faded, and I was alone with the sound of my own breathing. A strange heaviness enveloped my heart—the same feeling I'd had back in the Underworld, and before, when I'd attempted to wake the giant Alcyoneus.

Gaia.

A bright glow dazzled my eyes, and a faint picture came into view, as though I was looking at it through a dirty telescope. It was beautiful—rolling green contours which came right up to a sandy beach. A mile off the surf stood a hill, but no vegetation grew off it. Black soil –volcanic ash– made it up entirely. And even though it looked harmless, I _knew _that something evil was hidden there.

_Hello child._

I flinched at the earthy voice, memories of my past life springing to the front of my eyes. Sammy grinned endearingly at me and then Nico appeared, holding out his hand to take me out of the Underworld. My chest contracted with pain—would I ever see him again? Was he even alive?

_You seek your brother, _Gaia continued, amused, _with all the courage and hope of a fool. _

'You're the fool,' I said shakily, 'and we're going to defeat you.'

Gaia laughed resoundingly and the black hill seemed to glow red from the inside.

_By all means, _she said agreeably, _come, save your brother. But I'd be delighted if you stayed to meet his guest._

'His guest?' I repeated, as the distant sounds of my friends fighting echoed in my head.

_You'll see, _Gaia promised, with cruel glee, _if you survive, that is._

The vision vanished in a flash and I only just got a glimpse of blue sky before I realized I was falling.

The next few moments were dizzying.

I screamed as I rushed down. My hands burned against the deck, uselessly hoping to for something to stall my fall. _This is it, _I thought to myself, _I'm going to break all my bones on the safety railing. _

My right side exploded in agony as someone (I caught a flash of black hair) crashed into me, sending both of us careening to the right. My saviour collided into the safety railing first but then we spun around, and it broke under the weight of my armour.

I went over the edge.

For an instant, I was falling through the air. The dark waters of the Atlantic Ocean churned some twenty feet beneath me and I felt completely weightless.

A blur of brown flashed past me and without thinking, I caught it.

The straps of my armour jerked and cut into my shoulders and suddenly I wasn't falling anymore. My body swung backwards and my legs hit the celestial bronze plates on the side of the ship. I felt the pull of gravity but someone's tight hold on me kept me from plunging into the sea.

Gripped in my right hand was a very familiar piece of firewood.

'Frank,' I gasped, completely bewildered as to how (and why) he'd caught me in time, 'I have your stick!'

I felt the arm holding on to me shudder.

'What?' He shouted, above the keening cries of the Sea Monster we could no longer see and the ship's emergency sirens, 'what did you say?'

I angled my head upwards, and met his gaze. 'I have your stick!'

Frank's expression told he couldn't have cared less. He was gritting his teeth together and sweat ran down his cheek, mingling with the streaks of dirt and dust on his face. From the way he was holding me, I guessed that his leg was hooked on to something that was keeping us from falling over.

'Good for you,' he said, twisting his head the other way.

I looked down again and the euphoria of having saved the charred piece of wood evaporated. Several people describe the ocean as beautiful. I am not one of those people. To me, the dark waters looked like a drowning pool, waiting to grab on to you and push the air out of your lungs till you suffocated.

A ball of relief expanded inside me and I prayed that Frank didn't lose his grip. Now that I was actually facing it, I decided I would take breaking bones over falling into the ocean. To make it up to Frank, I shoved his stick into my inner coat pocket, which was no easy task because of my breastplate.

Distantly, I heard an echo of something snapping.

'NO!' Frank yelled suddenly.

'Wha—?' I began but a powerful jerk ran through Frank's arms and into my armour. An invisible hand pushed me forward and all of a sudden I was falling again.

A flash of blonde hair blinded me in the bright sunshine, and then I hit the water.

* * *

Who knew I had the First cohort girls, who'd tried to dunk me repeatedly in the Baths at New Rome, to thank for saving my life? Acting purely on the memory of being pushed into water without prior warning, I gulped in a huge breath of air just before I sank underneath the surface.

Terror, acute and painful ran through me. I hated the ocean. I hated its strength and its vastness. I hated the way it made me sink. Most of all I hated its very presence, as though it was trying to eat through my bones.

_Focus Hazel, _I commanded myself, even as panic seized my limbs, _you know what to do. _

My trembling stopped—only to start again, as a deathly chill washed over me. It was the middle of summer, but the sea hadn't got the message yet. I felt as though I'd stepped into a river fed by a glacier.

The cold sapped the warmth and strength from my fingers and ate at my resolve. My chest tightened with the lack of oxygen and the sheet of brightness above me, seemed to retreat.

_If you survive..._

Gaia's terrible echo took away whatever remaining hope I had. I was never going to see Nico again. I was going to die in this icy water and the Prophecy of Seven wouldn't be completed. All the pain and sacrifice I'd gone through was worth nothing. The quest would fail.

_I_ had failed.

My vision clouded and I spiralled down through the ocean stuck in its greedy grasp.

A flicker of colour appeared in the darkness. Yellow. Like the sun. Ripples were originating from it. I blinked, forcing my eyes to clear. The grey surroundings didn't improve one bit, but suddenly I could see two people below me.

Frank and Annabeth.

Frank was struggling with something, and his leg was held out at an odd angle. Annabeth didn't seem to be moving. Frank shifted, and I caught a glimpse of a cloud of red substance.

Blood.

I was swimming forward before I knew it. Several half baked lessons from Gwen came into my head and I tried my best to kick with my legs, aiming for my friends. Frank had one arm around Annabeth and was attempting to push her up –or at least slow her descent– but his leg wasn't working and his eyes were terrified.

He was running out of air.

I reached them and when he caught sight of me, he gestured to Annabeth's armour. I understood immediately: he couldn't take it off because he was struggling to stop her from drowning.

To make sure I didn't go the same way, I hurriedly undid my straps, cursing inwardly when my fingers froze over the buckles. I managed to undo my helmet and cast off the greaves and breastplate but it cost me precious oxygen.

When I turned to Annabeth (we were still sinking by the way) I had to bite the inside of my cheek from losing my head. Her eyes were closed by the gash on her head was open. Blood spiralled up from it, darkening the water around us. My fingers fumbled over her armour as Frank kept kicking with his one leg to hold her up.

Annabeth's blonde hair fanned, creating a sharp contrast with her white face. The worrying part was that no bubbles of air were escaping her mouth or nose. Did that mean water had already gotten into her lungs? When exactly had she lost consciousness? Before or after hitting the water? Then again, did that even matter?

With one last wrench, I flung her armour off and gestured to Frank. We each took one arm and began kicking for the surface. My chest was burning from the cold, and the exertion and the lack of oxygen. Frank's face was tight with fatigue.

I nearly asked why he hadn't changed into a more water suitable form when I remembered his damaged foot. Obviously he couldn't change with a broken bone—either because he couldn't concentrate or because it was anatomically impossible.

The surface came closer and I fought the urge to breathe. We could make it. We _had _to make it. One member of the prophecy dying was bad enough—three would mean the end of the world.

I focused on the bright sunshine above me. All we had to do was break the surface and—

A rush of cold water, so strong that it ripped me apart from the others. I spun backwards, against my will and slammed into something rocky. My back took the brunt of the force, thankfully, but for a few seconds it was all I could do from screaming out in pain.

In the distance, something green and shiny whipped around in frenzy. The monster's tail. It flew back and forth like a deranged animal, creating pockets of currents.

Gritting my teeth, I peeled myself off the rock and looked around. I caught sight of Frank immediately. He was only a few feet away from me and was suspended in water, as though a string was holding him in place.

Then, to my horror he began to sink.

_No, _I screamed in my head, powering towards him, _no, Frank please be awake. _

I caught his hand and pulled upwards, hoping he'd open his eyes. He didn't. His legs dangled behind him and I pushed down the nausea when I saw the odd angle of his foot. He must have hit the rock feet first and then passed out because of sheer pain.

I looked around desperately—where was Annabeth? Frank was like a deadweight, and I could barely keep us both from sinking, how in the world was I going to find the daughter of Athena?

_If you survive..._

It took every ounce of willpower to not scream in frustration. I kicked with my feet again, since my hands were occupied with holding on to Frank, and twisted my head. In the distance, I could still see the tail thrashing but other than that there was nothing else except for blackness.

_No wait, _I thought tiredly, feeling like my lungs were about to burst, _the water isn't dark. My vision is._

I kicked again but it was a weak attempt. My arms felt like lead. My shoulder throbbed and my brain went fuzzy due to the lack of oxygen. The sunlight streaming above was almost mocking me.

_C'mon, _it said, _you can make it. Just push a little._

My legs jerked in response but I rose less than a few inches.

_No, _the words drifted through my flickering consciousness; _no I don't think I can. _

And the last thing I saw before I passed out was Percy's bright green eyes.


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: As promised guys. Oh and this one's dedicated to ****SwearItOnTheStyx, who's reviewed every chapter so far. Thanks a lot! :)**

* * *

**10) ...If You Do, It Gets Worse.**

**Hazel-II.**

Coming back from the dead _twice _is not something to be proud of.

Though, I suppose, I wasn't really dead the second time. Sure, my lungs were full of seawater, and my brain was on the verge of giving up, but my heart was still pumping, so therefore, I was definitely alive.

I gasped and coughed out what felt like half a gallon of ocean. Then I coughed some more, over the burn erupting in my throat, and leaned forward, pressing my fingers to my eyes. The cold of the ocean didn't dissipate in the warm sunshine; in fact it seemed to have burrowed in deep, right to marrow of my bones. I told myself to ignore it and concentrated on my surroundings.

I could feel a hardwood floor underneath me and fresh air whipping my face. Greedily, I sucked in the oxygen, promising myself that if I had to die again, I would _not _do so by drowning.

Noises, voices and strange smells assaulted me from every direction. I could hear half a dozen people shouting over the still wailing emergency siren of the ship. Insults were traded, curses were uttered and the wounded moaned.

The only thing I _could _be sure of: the Sea Monster wasn't attacking the ship anymore. What had happened to it, however, was a mystery.

I blinked, trying to wrap my head around the situation. Several pairs of legs stood all around me, like a circle, most of them in torn jeans, stained with acid saliva.

'I need to get the water out of Annabeth.'

Percy's urgent command was lost to a bunch of other noises, which sounded suspiciously like someone crying. I turned my head a fraction was treated to the pretty sight of a half dead Annabeth lying on the deck, with a half mad Percy leaning over her.

Talk about déjà vu.

Percy waved a hand over Annabeth's chest and a second later, water started to stream out of her mouth, dribbling down her sides and soaking her clothes. As soon as the water vacated, Annabeth took a deep, shuddering breath, but her eyes didn't open.

Her wound looked even worse in the bright sunshine.

'Medic,' someone else shouted, casting a shadow over me so I was forced to look up, 'somebody get me a medic here, ASAP!'

It was Jason.

His hair looked like he'd done a bad colouring job on it because it was half golden and half purple. He had a bruised cheek and there were tiny little scratches all over his face.

'Son of Apollo,' Will Solace appeared, shouldering his way through the crowd of legs around me, 'at your service.'

He leaned over Annabeth as well, temporarily blocking her from view. I put a hand to my chest –trying to figure out if there was any water left– when my fingers hit a hard bump in the inner pocket.

Frank's piece of wood.

But where was Frank?!

Cursing myself for forgetting about him so easily, I turned around—and found him right next to me. His eyes were open, but he looked dazed. He was breathing carefully, and when he found me watching him, a brief reassuring smile flitted across his face.

With that smile, I could have taken on the world.

I was about to take out his stick and hand it back when Will Solace began to talk again—and this time, he sounded very worried.

'Her vitals are erratic,' Will informed Percy, his eyes never leaving Annabeth's wound, 'and I'm not sure how hard she hit her head—'

'Knocked it against the Celestial Bronze plating.' Frank rasped, drawing surprised looks from all of us.

Jason shifted on one foot. 'What?'

Frank seemed to have difficulty speaking, which I couldn't really blame him for. He had a broken ankle that nobody was paying any attention to. 'The plating on the outer surface of the ship,' he explained wearily, 'she hit her head against it. I heard the _crack_.'

I winced and Will's expression went from "worried" to "oh-gods-no."

Percy's eyes tightened. 'How bad is that?'

Will bit his lip and pulled back one of Annabeth's eyelids. Only the whites of her eyes showed.

'It's not good,' he muttered and then checked the pulse again, evidently coming to a decision, 'we need to get her to the infirmary.'

Percy was up at once. 'I'll take her—'

'No!' Jason flung out an arm so fast that he nearly knocked Will over. 'Sorry man,' he apologised and then moved over to block Percy's way, 'you're not going down there.'

Percy was dumbfounded. 'How can you even—?'

'Bobby,' Jason interrupted, waving one of the pairs of legs over, 'you and Will take her down. Gently now!'

Bobby knelt down and picked her up easily, shifting to hold Annabeth's head up when Will yelled out a warning. The crowd parted for them and I heard several other people calling for healing assistance over the noise.

Percy was still in shock. He took a step forward, but Jason pushed him back firmly.

'No.' Jason repeated quietly, 'you won't do any good down there. Let them do their job.'

Percy struggled on the spot; his instinct to be with Annabeth fighting with his instinct to not get in the way of the healers. I couldn't imagine going through it even once, and there he was, facing the same situation twice in the same month.

'I'll just...' Percy trailed off helplessly, 'what do I do?'

It had to be the oddest encounter the rest of the crew had ever seen. Percy, the captain of the ship, was asking Jason, his second-in-command for orders. For direction. I, however, knew what was really going on. A lost Percy was simply leaning on a friend for support—support that he desperately needed if he was going to get through the next few hours.

Jason understood. 'Why don't you take another dive?' He gestured over the ship's side, 'see if we've sprung any leaks from the outside?'

For a moment Percy wavered. He stood, dripping with water (shouldn't he have dried it off by now, I wondered) and fists clenched. His face was set in stone, scarily expressionless and yet holding a sort of terrified anguish beneath the surface.

Then, he took a deep breath, gave Jason a quick nod and promptly leaped over the side.

After that, it was all business. Jason cupped his hands and told the group of legs to take any seriously injured demigod down to the infirmary. The others, who weren't that terribly hurt, would get first-aid right here on the main deck.

The crowd disappeared and Jason turned his attention to me.

'Hazel,' He knelt down, 'how badly are you hurt?'

I did a quick onceover of my body at the question and came to the regretful conclusion that aside from the cold and my shoulder, I wasn't in too bad a shape. Other people were far more in need of the infirmary beds than I was.

'I'm cold,' I confessed, 'and my shoulder hurts but otherwise I'm okay. It's Frank you need to take care of.'

Accordingly, Jason turned to Frank as Dakota appeared and put a blanket around my shoulders.

'Broken ankle,' Jason stated, eyeing Frank's foot with well disguised nausea, 'easy enough to fix. Dakota, carry him down.'

It was only when Dakota and Frank had gone, and Jason and half a dozen others started shifting the debris to dig out the person trapped underneath did I realize how close to death I'd come again.

My shoulders began to shake and I bit my lip, forcing myself not to cry. Crying was weak. Crying was pathetic. Crying was not Roman. And I was Roman, so I would not cry. Still, a couple of tears escaped from my eyes and dripped down my cheeks.

I don't know how long I sat there. It felt surreal. The sun shone and the wind blew and I sat on the wooden deck and contemplated my death. I could finally see what had happened to the Sea Monster—its ugly head lay abandoned in the corner, looking like some horrible Halloween arrangement.

The rest of the (headless) body was coiled around the ship, limp and lifeless. I took one look at the butchered neck and nearly threw up whatever was left in my stomach.

Eventually, and with a lot of effort, the crew managed to pull out the trapped demigod –Katie Gardiner I believe her name was– and Jason carried her off to the infirmary. Soon after, Percy returned from his refreshing dive and after a moment's hesitation, he too went below deck.

The rest of us, about twenty in total, stayed on the deck—the Romans huddling together in one group, the Greeks in another. I was too tired to move, so I stayed right where I was.

Somehow, I found Frank's stick in my hand. I'd forgotten to give it back to him. I rolled it between my fingers, both admiring its smooth surface, and hating it for being the bane of Frank's existence. Then again, given the events of the morning, _I _was probably the bane of Frank's existence.

About half an hour later, by approximation, Leo appeared, holding out a basket and bottle in his hands. I blinked, trying to figure out where he'd been all this while till I remembered that he'd been down in the Engine Room, tending to his machines.

'Here guys,' he called and held out the items, 'nectar and ambrosia. It'll help with the bruises and burns.'

The Romans took the ambrosia and the Greeks took the nectar. Once bereft of his offerings, Leo approached me, the very picture of extreme caution.

'Hey,' he murmured gently, taking my free hand, 'you don't look so good.'

It was such a Sammy thing to say that I nearly laughed. But when I thought about Sammy I only remembered that he was dead. And how close I'd come to dying less than an hour ago.

'I'm...' the words tripped over my tongue, but I forced them out, 'fine. I'm fine.'

'Eat this.' Leo placed a few broken pieces of ambrosia into my hand which I devoured with gusto. Immediately, the chill inside me decreased, and the metaphorical knife in my shoulder reduced to a dull throbbing.

Leo smiled. 'Better?'

'Yes.' I answered, and leaned back, trying to ignore the warmth that radiated off him. 'Much better; thanks.'

Leo rubbed my hands between his, dispelling the cold effectively. His brown eyes didn't waver from mine, and a blush rose in my cheeks.

Footsteps sounded and a Greek demigod knelt down next to Leo, handing back the bottle of nectar to him. If my memory served correctly, his name was Pollux something, son of Dionysus. I remembered him vividly from the fights in Camp Half-Blood's arena.

'Thanks man,' Pollux-something said, 'we needed that.'

Leo shrugged, 'least I could do.'

Pollux nodded and made to get up, until a puzzled frown crossed his face and he stopped.

'Where were you anyway? I don't remember seeing you on the deck...'

From Leo's expression, I could tell this was the last thing he wanted to talk about. The argument with Anthony Webber came back to me –had it only been an hour and a half ago?– and some small part of me wondered why Leo had opted to tend to the engines instead of fighting with the rest of us.

'I was...' Leo fixed his gaze on the wooden deck, 'I was down in the Engine Room.'

Pollux didn't seem to understand. 'But you weren't on Watch.'

'No,' Leo agreed, still not looking at either of us, even though his hand was still gripping mine, 'no I wasn't.'

An uncomfortable silence descended and I heard the rest of the Greeks, who weren't sitting too far away, cease their conversation. Every eye turned to us, and I blushed harder, wondering if any of them were judging me –a Roman– for holding hands with one of their campers. Piper's face came into focus –she was sitting right next to the Stoll brothers– and I saw that her mouth twist unhappily, as though she was disappointed in me.

'Well,' Pollux said at last, getting to his feet, 'thanks for the nectar anyway.'

Leo stared at the floor for a few minutes, and I wisely kept my mouth shut. The Greeks resumed conversation (and Piper looked away thankfully) once Pollux joined them. Across the deck I could see the Romans in a passionate argument. From the way their heads turned, I guessed that Anthony was holding court.

'I wasn't afraid.' Leo said suddenly, 'and I'm _not_ a coward.'

'Who said you were?'

Leo didn't seem to hear me. 'Nor am I a traitor.' He looked up, and I saw fire in his eyes, both pleading and defiant. 'I'm not like my father. My loyalties lie with the gods.'

I concentrated on the warmth of his fingers, drawing comfort from them. 'Leo,' I began gently, 'nobody is questioning your decision to go down to the Engine Room.'

'Not aloud anyway,' Leo muttered, throwing a glance to the back of Anthony Webber's head, 'but everyone's thinking—why didn't Leo Valdez come up to fight?'

'You had to make sure the engines were safe.'

'_Exactly!' _Leo exclaimed, pressing my hand tightly, 'the voyage only succeeds if we have a functioning ship. But nobody understands that!' He took a deep breath, still speaking to the floor, 'nobody understands that I have priorities, and my first priority will always be the _Argo II_!'

The last few words were punctuated by a deep breath and his hands, which had encased mine, grew uncomfortably hot. All of a sudden, I was acutely aware of Frank's stick—which was so close to a smouldering blaze. I wrenched my hands away, and toppled Leo over because of the force of my pull.

Hands shaking, and blinking back the sudden rush of tears I attempted to provide some sort of explanation to Leo who looked both surprised and hurt by my antics.

'I'm sorry,' I stammered, 'but you looked—_felt_ like you were going to burn up again.'

Leo's eyebrows came together and his gaze fell on Frank's plank, which I was tucking away for safekeeping. Recognition dawned slowly in his eyes.

'Isn't that...' he frowned, trying to remember, 'didn't Frank take that back from you a couple of days ago?'

I nodded mutely, still not completely over how close I'd come to endangering Frank's life. Leo and I had been in conversation when Frank had come over and requested the stick back from me. I was pretty sure we'd been in a secluded corner of the ship during the exchange but I had a strong feeling that Leo had probably eavesdropped on the conversation. Sammy certainly would have.

'Oh,' Leo said awkwardly, and I saw how quickly he was thinking and piecing together the little clues he'd picked up on. In a completely involuntary gesture, my hand tightened around Frank's stick again. No wonder he'd wanted it back; every time I had it, it was either in impeding danger or was telling people about his fatal secret.

Leo looked like he wanted to say something else but just then, a figure arrived on the deck and leaped on to the pile of wreckage so that he could cast his gaze down on us.

It was Liam.

'Ahoy there mateys,' he called loudly, and then shook his head as though ship-speak was too much for him, 'if I could have your attention for a moment?'

There was a moment of baffled silence and then everyone angled themselves towards Liam. Nobody in particular looked pleased to see him, but that I understood because unlike the rest of us, barring perhaps Leo, Liam looked entirely injury-free.

I wondered where he'd been all this time. Certainly not on the deck, otherwise I'd have caught sight of him. Maybe he'd been up in the nest?

'Brilliant,' Liam continued, 'now report down to the Mess. Thanks.'

A moment of puzzled silence followed that remark.

'Excuse me? Anthony Webber stood up, 'is this some sort of joke?'

'If it is,' Travis Stoll declared, 'it's better than yours, Webber.'

Anthony swung his head to glare at him but since both the Stolls were sitting together, he couldn't seem to decide which one to shout at.

Liam sighed. 'I wish it was. Sadly our Captian—' Liam paused and made a great show of checking his wristwatch, 'sorry, I mean our _Commander _wants us all down there. Immediately, I might add.'

Leo stood up as well. 'You're telling us that Jason wants us _all _in the Mess, right now? And we're just supposed to leave _that,' _Leo flicked a thumb at the wreckage and the headless body of the serpent, 'lying around?'

'Yes and yes,' Liam answered, 'and he's pretty serious about it.'

I glanced at the others, a knot forming in my stomach. Why was Jason calling us all down? Had something serious happened? Gods forbid, had something happened to Annabeth? Or the rest of the injured?

Liam hopped down from his makeshift podium and raised a critical eyebrow.

'Well don't just _stand _there! Let's go!'

* * *

The Mess was the only room on the ship which could hold the entire ship's screw comfortably. Which is why when all of us on deck shuffled in; we barely managed to fill half. Between the injured, and the healers and whoever was on Watch, our strength was severely diminished.

I took the nearest seat and Leo joined me on my left. In a moment of chivalry, he tried to pull out the chair for me but accidentally bumped into my damaged shoulder, sending fingers of pain arcing down my hand. I tried to contain my wince but didn't do a very good job of it.

'Sorry, sorry,' Leo muttered, backing into his seat, 'I was just trying to... help.'

I managed a smile through my gritted teeth. 'It's okay.'

It turned out that Leo and I were the hinge of the Greek-Roman divide. All the Romans proceeded to sit down on my right. And after Liam sat down on Leo's left, all the Greeks followed that example as well. The divide stretched down opposite sides of the table till it met with Percy and Jason seated at the other end.

Jason was speaking in rapid whispers to Percy and so far, had ignored the arrival of the rest of his crew.

I let my eyes wander the rest of the room, while my fingers trailed the hard outline of Frank's wood inside my pocket. The Mess was long, and not very broad. The centre of the room was taken up by one large round table which could seat about twenty—and that was what we'd all gathered around.

At one end of the room, stood several glowing tureens, which came up with all sorts of meals and snacks for the crew. The glowing, I presumed, came from the Pearl which powered the magic. Low couches were scattered around elsewhere, and several works of art, both Roman and Greek, hung from the walls. The other end of the room had the largest television I'd ever seen on its wall.

The Mess was usually the most popular place for the crew to gather, but I'd spent little time in it, choosing the open decks instead, as they helped with my constant sea sickness.

In response to that thought, my stomach gave a nervous twinge.

Jason, who'd evidently finished his conversation with Percy, turned to us and clapped his hands. His hair still had an awful lot of purple in it and the bruise on his cheek had changed colour. His expression was less then pleased and when the attention turned to him, he seemed to become angrier.

'Thank you for coming down here,' Jason said, blue eyes sharpening in barely controlled disdain, 'and thank you for not killing each other on the way.'

The atmosphere tightened and the air turned solid with tension.

'I mean, I really should thank you guys, right?' Jason continued, in that strange sarcastic tone, 'you can't even _sit _next to each other—it's a miracle you haven't started fighting!'

My stomach churned when I realized he was referring to the Romans and Greeks. The others understood too, and threw each other nervous, guilty glances. Had Jason called us down simply to berate us for not mingling?

Jason gazed at us for a moment, his normally twinkling eyes, hard as crystal. Next to him, Percy hadn't even looked up from his lap.

Anthony Webber shifted in his spot uncomfortably, two seats to my right. 'Will all due respect Commander, I don't think now is the time to—'

'—to ask about something so trivial?' Jason finished. 'You're right,' he nodded, in that terrible mocking way, 'you're absolutely right. Let's talk about why it took us so long,' Jason gritted his teeth, 'why it _cost _us so much, to defeat a monster which, by all rights, should have been dealt with in half an hour?'

Absolute silence greeted his words. A prickly feeling spread through me and I took a moment to identify it. Guilt. Why in the world was I feeling guilty?

'Well,' Connor Stoll drummed his fingers uncertainly on the table, 'personally I'd like to know how we were caught so unprepared.' He threw Leo a brief glance, 'I thought the _Argo II _was built to withstand...'

Leo's fingers turned white as they gripped the table. 'The ship _is _built to withstand _and _identify potential threats.' He let that sink in a moment before continuing, 'I can _assure _you, its sensors didn't miss anything!'

Connor withdrew and looked away. Anthony however, had an unpleasant look on his face—one I'd seen several times before when he'd handed out punishment to the recruits at Camp Jupiter.

'So then how were not warned before the monster struck?' He asked softly.

Leo shrugged nonchalantly. 'I have no idea.'

Anthony snorted, 'well that settles everything then.'

Leo refused to rise to the bait. Jason rapped his knuckles sharply on the table, drawing our attention back to the head of the table.

'Let's proceed systematically,' his tone wavered slightly with suppressed anger, but he held it in check, 'who was the officer on Watch when we were attacked?'

I glanced around the table, trying my best to remember who'd drawn the afternoon shift. Unfortunately, when the schedule had gone up, I'd only made a note of my time and position and who I had to report to. It had been Dakota, so he obviously hadn't been on Watch.

Liam leaned forward with a sigh. 'I was.'

_Well, _I thought to myself, _at least it explains why he isn't injured. He never got to fighting the monster. _

'I see.' Jason's jaw tightened at the revelation, 'and who all were with you?'

'Sherman was in Ops,' Liam counted off his fingers, 'Matthew was in Comm., Emma was in the Engine Room, and Hank and I were up in the Bridge.'

Three Romans and two Greeks I counted off in my head. What significance did that have? Would the majority take the blame? Would the Romans be held responsible for the attack?

I could see anxiety on all the members of the crew who'd been named. Their faces were as if they expected to be told to walk the plank at any moment.

Jason took the news in without a change in expression. He turned to Leo, 'in the event of the ship sensing a monster, where would the information be relayed? Ops or Bridge?'

Leo didn't even have to think about it. 'Bridge,' he said with confidence, 'unless the monster attacked before being in radar range—in which case Ops would have picked up the threat.'

Jason raised a puzzled eyebrow. 'I don't understand.'

Leo heaved a sigh; one which I knew expressed his disappointment that the rest of the crew didn't share his understanding of machines. 'Say the monster wasn't in radar range when it attacked,' he explained, 'that way Ops would sense the threat, but not the _origin of the threat._'

'So Ops would inform us that we were being attacked—just not what was doing the attacking.' Jason clarified.

Leo nodded. 'Exactly. But if it was in radar range when before it attacked, then Bridge would have sensed its presence.'

Jason mulled over his words, but before he could say anything, Lena –a daughter of Vulcan– broke in, frustration seeping into her tone.

'_Of course _it was in radar range when it attacked!' She exclaimed, 'it came right up to us! So unless the radar was faulty—'

'Which it isn't.' Leo interrupted.

'—then the Bridge would have _known _about its presence way before it got so close.' Lena finished, ignoring Leo completely. She turned her hostile gaze on to Liam, 'yes?'

Liam didn't say anything. A cold pit formed in my stomach. We'd argued and counter-argued about where his loyalty lay so much that I'd just assumed he fought for us. But what if Jason had been right all along, what if Liam was actually working for Gaia and he'd just tried to sabotage the quest?

Jason seemed to be sharing my thoughts. 'Well?' He asked, moving subtly so that he could reach his sword in a moment's notice, 'did the Bridge warn you before we were attacked?'

Liam rubbed his chin thoughtfully, before suddenly breaking into a wide grin. 'That, I think, is a question you have to ask Hank.'

'Excuse me?' Jason repeated, 'you were the officer on Watch. Why would I ask Hank?'

Liam's grin didn't waver and I chanced a look at Hank. He was sitting between Anthony and Eric, and his eyes were darting from side to side. Even from a few feet away, I could see the sweat staining his open collar.

Jason still hadn't moved his penetrating stare from Liam. 'Explain yourself, Lieutenant.'

Liam spread his hands. 'I _was_ the officer on Watch, I admit that much. But I think everyone knows that the sailor who sits on the Bridge has the sole responsibility of manning the radar station.'

A horrible realization was forming in my head, and I joined the others who'd shifted their glances from Liam to Hank. With a disgruntled snort, Jason turned as well.

'Sailor?' He questioned, 'were you warned before we were attacked?'

Hank pulled at the collar of his shirt and opened his mouth. A few seconds passed, but he didn't say a word and closed his mouth soon after. He looked like me when I was suffering from sea sickness. Horribly, horribly weak.

'Hank?' Jason's demand was tinged with suspicion, 'did the radar inform you of the monster's presence?'

A few more seconds of tense silence ticked by. Hank was trembling slightly and both Anthony and Eric had leaned away from him, as though the interrogation he was facing was contagious.

'Oh he can't answer that either.' Liam's amused voice did nothing to temper the rising distrust, 'because see, he wasn't _at _the radar for a whole hour before we were attacked.'

A brief, astounded silence followed that remark. It was inconceivable that someone wasn't at their station during Watch. It'd been drilled into us over and over again that when a crew member was on Watch, he didn't move from his place for _anything. _The rest of the ship trusted the Watch to keep a lookout; they essentially trusted the Watch with their _lives_.

Jason's posture radiated the same disbelief. 'Hank, why did you leave your position? You were on _Watch!_'

'I personally think he was trying to ask someone out on a date,' Liam filled in, a satisfied smile etched on to his lips, 'Jessica something or the other. Can't be too sure now.'

In the back of my mind I remembered that Jessica Martinez had hit her head really hard and was now being kept, sedated, in the infirmary. I tried to imagine how horrible Hank had to have been feeling, but somehow I couldn't drum up any sympathy for him. I'd nearly _died _because of his negligence.

Hank gulped, and tugged at his collar again. He looked nothing like the arrogant, collected legionary I knew him to be.

'I...' He struggled to form words under the weight of everyone's stares, 'we hadn't been attacked in two days and it was the last hour of my Watch.' Hank paused pleadingly, 'I just assumed that—'

'You _assumed_?' Jason's tone was like crackling ice, 'who gave you the authority to _assume_?'

Hank didn't reply, and beside Leo, I heard Liam chuckle softly.

'And you!' Jason rounded on Liam, 'how did you just _let _him leave?'

Liam's expression changed alarmingly under the accusation. The smirk was replaced by a dangerous glare.

'I'm not his mother.' Liam said disgustedly, 'I'm not going to run after a Roman and remind him to do his job.'

I tried not to feel the sting of insult at Liam's words. Everyone knew he didn't particularly like Romans, but the fact that Liam hadn't it ranked higher than the safety of the ship that even _he _was on, was a little disturbing to say the least.

'No,' Anthony shook his head in sudden comprehension, 'no you let him go so that you could report him in. You _wanted_ to get him into trouble—and you didn't care that you were endangering all of us by doing so!'

Liam shrugged, 'don't blame this on meWebber. It was your boy who screwed up._' _

Anthony's lip curled. 'You're pathetic.'

Anger flared in Liam's eyes, 'I could say the same for you. Especially considering—'

A gust of wind rattled the room and sent the plates lying in one corner flying across so that they smashed into little pieces. I flinched, but none of the shards came anywhere near me—indeed they didn't come near any of us.

I looked up and found Jason's fist on the table, his jaw tight with emotion. The atmosphere in the room felt ominous, as though a storm was about to break. Pressure pushed down on me from all sides.

'Jason,' Piper spoke softly, reaching across Percy to touch him, 'calm down. We're just talking here.'

Jason blinked, and his fist opened. Simultaneously, the air relaxed and as though he was letting it go out of his control. The pressure vanished and I took a deep breath.

'Let me get this straight,' he muttered, shooting both Hank and Liam dagger like looks, 'one of you _left _his station, and the other didn't bother to stop him.'

Jason clenched his fist again but this time nothing dangerous happened. He opened his palm and pointed his index finger at Liam.

'My question is this,' Jason said, 'why didn't you cover for Hank? How could you just _leave _our warning system unmanned?'

Liam looked tired of all the discussion. He fiddled with the sleeve of his jacket, 'how was I supposed to know that we'd be attacked? I just assumed the Watch would finish and I could leave as well.

'Besides,' he continued, 'watching the radar _isn't my job. _I think I mentioned that already.'

I tried to imagine what Liam had been doing once Hank left. As officer, he had a variety of things to keep track of: the course of the ship, the satellite imaging which would warn us of weather conditions and a naval presence plus all the other systems running on the ship, which he did by checking in regularly with the others on Watch.

It wasn't as restful as most assumed. But at the same time, he _could_ have checked in with the radar from time to time. Instead, he'd deliberately left it unattended, all so that he could get Hank into trouble.

Jason looked like he wanted to argue the case I'd built in my head but with a resigned sigh he let it go. Instead he turned to Hank.

'You're on armoury duty for the rest of the journey,' Jason ordered, 'you will keep the weapons, _all _the weapons, spotless.'

Hank didn't say anything but I finally felt a spurt of sympathy for him. There were a _lot_ of weapons on the ship. Both camps had contributed generously to the cause.

'_And_,' Jason continued, 'you will serve a double Watch every day. Are we clear?'

Hank gulped but kept his gaze on the table and didn't even try and defend himself. 'Yes sir.'

Jason turned away, indicating the matter was now closed. 'Now, that we've—'

'Excuse me, Commander?' Anthony interrupted, 'what about the Lieutenant?' He gestured to Liam, 'surely it was a matter of gross negligence on his part too?'

Liam rolled his eyes as Jason pursed his lips, thinking it over. I looked around the table and noticed that most of the Greeks looked blatantly annoyed by the suggestion that any wrongdoing had occurred by one of their own.

'As much as I want to...' Jason appeared to be struggling to say the words, 'Liam cannot be blamed. As he said, watching the radar wasn't part of his job.'

The words, _though he could have tried _were left unsaid at the end of the sentence. My respect for Jason increased tenfold at the moment. There was no one on the ship who hated Liam more (except perhaps Anthony who looked like he'd just swallowed a snake) and yet, Jason had abided by the rules completely. There was something to be said about Roman justice.

'Now that we've settled this issue,' Jason drummed his fingers on the table, returning to what he'd been saying before Anthony had interrupted him, 'maybe one of you could fill me in on why killing the monster was so difficult.'

Another heavy silence descended on the group, and Jason's eyes roamed every face, searching for an answer. I had a sudden vision of the Romans huddling together, leaving the Greeks to fend for themselves and shame rose in my throat.

'We tried everything!' Eric exclaimed, breaking the stillness, 'The monster had armoured skin.'

Jason wasn't pleased by the answer. 'I'm _aware _of that, and I distinctly remember Percy and me telling you _how_ to break the armour.'

The Romans shifted uneasily and when I leaned past Leo to get a look at Liam, I saw the same satisfied smirk on his face. He was, undoubtedly, enjoying himself. Then again, since he had been on the Bridge, he would have seen what the defenders had done, and in the case of the Roman half, what they had not done.

'Travis.' Jason fixed the Stolls with his searching gaze, 'did you hear what we said? As I recall, you were the furthest away.'

Travis licked his lips hesitantly. 'Yeah, we figured it out eventually.'

'But none of you actually followed the order.' Jason stated.

Travis squirmed slightly. 'Look, we tried,' he defended himself and jerked a thumb across the table, 'but _those _guys all stuck together—and they didn't invite us to the party!'

'I see.' Jason mulled over the words and the tension in the air rose again. I caught Piper's eye and she gave me a small nod, remembering no doubt that _I _had tried to work with the Greeks. That recognition eased the guilt somewhat, but I still couldn't help but feel ashamed for my camp.

Jason turned to the Roman nearest to him, Christopher.

'Why don't you explain to me why you didn't work with the Greeks?'

Christopher wilted under the scrutiny and gazed at his hands. Like Hank earlier, he seemed unable to say anything. The proximity to Jason wasn't helping matters and he looked like he wanted to bolt.

'Chris?' Jason pressed, 'why did you not follow a direct order?'

Christopher gulped and shot the briefest of glances to Anthony, saying _help me_. It was barely there for a second, but Jason caught it and shifted his attention immediately.

'Lieutenant,' he addressed the First Centurion calmly, 'it seems you have the answer.'

Anthony straightened in his chair. 'I don't know what you mean, sir.'

He said _sir, _like how Liam said it. Full of disdain and reluctance as though the person he was saying it to didn't deserve any respect. Never in my brief time at Camp Jupiter had I heard Anthony be so intentionally discourteous to a superior. He was a first rate ass to the people beneath him, but never to a senior, no matter how much he disagreed with them. Liam's lack of punishment had obviously gone to his heart.

'I think you do,' Jason stated quietly, 'and I urge you to stop pretending otherwise, Lieutenant.'

Jason had obviously mastered the Roman art of threatening people without actually saying it outright. I felt a sudden urge to grin: Reyna would have been so proud.

Anthony's eyes narrowed. 'I simply followed protocol, Commander.'

'And what protocol was that, Lieutenant?'

I winced internally at the ranks being thrown about and half expected another storm to hit the room.

Anthony hesitated, until a familiar expression of stubbornness descended. 'The protocol to fight a larger, stronger opponent, sir: fight as a unit.'

I bit my lip as Jason considered the words. Leo and several other Greeks had raised puzzled eyebrows at Anthony's answer, but I didn't bother filling them in. Romans had several rules about fighting different kinds of opponents. Indeed, my first month at camp had been spent only learning and drilling them.

The Greeks, I noticed, tended to be more solo fighters. They didn't have rules; they just went with a "whatever works" attitude.

Jason clasped his hands together. 'So you superseded your Captain's order and gave one of your own?'

Anthony didn't respond.

'And you all,' Jason turned to the other Romans, 'followed his commands, and _not _mine and Percy's?'

The Romans didn't respond either.

By Jason's expression I could tell that he wasn't sure whether to start yelling or just give up. I could see his predicament: what do you say to half your crew which deliberately ignored your orders in favour of someone else's?

Liam had no such qualms. 'Well,' he heaved a great sigh, 'does this mean double Watch for all of them too? Because that'll be fantastic.'

Anthony stiffened at the implication. 'The crew is not be blamed, Commander. They were reacting to a familiar order.' He took a deep breath, 'I take full responsibility.'

'Because that will solve everything.' Liam shot back sarcastically, 'maybe that will even prevent Hank from running off to find himself a girlfriend.'

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Hank flush scarlet. Anthony looked furious.

'Stay out of this Greek!'

'I would if _my_ life wasn't at stake.'

Jason tried to intervene, 'Both of you need to stop—'

Anthony ignored him. 'What would you know of taking responsibility anyway? You couldn't even be bothered to move five feet to the radar station.'

'And _you _couldn't be bothered to even stand next to a Greek to kill a monster!' Liam exclaimed, 'all you care about are your precious _Roman _values.'

Anthony leaped to his feet. 'As if you don't care about your precious _Greek _values.'

Jason stood up, 'Lieutenants stand down! Now!'

Liam laughed mockingly. 'Don't bother _Commander_; he doesn't listen to anyone but himself.'

'And yet I care about more than myself,' Anthony snarled, hand going to his waist, 'can't say the same for you.'

Liam affected surprise. 'How astute Lieutenant. You care so much for your Romans; you didn't even try to _save a Greek_.'

'Liam—!' This time Piper tried to object, but she seemed to be struggling with the charmspeak and trailed off after the one word.

Anthony narrowed his eyes, 'I value every life on this ship.'

'Do you?' Liam challenged, blue eyes turning into crystals, 'because I can name one person you _let fall...'_

The jug of water exploded with a loud _bang! _The shards flew up but the water spread around horizontally, splashing everyone liberally. Because they were standing, Jason and Anthony got a face full of it, but the rest of us got pretty splattered as well.

The water seemed to bring me out of a daze I'd fallen into after following the fight. I'd been so intent on what Liam and Anthony had been saying to each other, that I'd completely missed the fact that Percy had come out of his self-imposed isolation.

'How can you all be so blind?' Percy asked wearily.

The rest of us were too shocked (and wet) to say anything. Even Jason seemed amazed by the fact that Percy was speaking. Till now he'd just been a silent spectator—not really there except in name as the captain. I'd simply assumed that he'd been in shock over Annabeth, but now I realized that he'd been waiting to see which way the argument went before stepping in.

'All of you...' Percy repeated, rubbing his eyes, 'are so _blind._'

I caught Leo's eye and he mimed a circle around his ear to indicate that Percy was losing his wits. I glared at him and he subsided immediately. Even if I didn't know what Percy was driving at; it didn't mean it was complete nonsense. Across the table, Jason took his seat hesitantly, and after a moment of indecision, even Anthony sat down.

Percy sighed. 'You know... I wasn't given a choice.' He rubbed his fingers on the table absentmindedly, 'I wasn't given a choice when Hera tossed me across the country and took my memories.'

The crew shifted uneasily and the air thickened with anticipation. None of us knew the direction Percy was heading into, but we all knew it was going to be important.

'Jason,' Percy gestured to his partner listlessly, 'wasn't given a choice either.'

Percy looked up, and his green eyes looked like glass riddled with cracks. 'Frank and Hazel weren't given a choice.'

I felt a little jump at my name and my hand curled around the pocket which held Frank's stick.

'Piper and Leo,' Percy announced, louder this time, 'were not given a choice.'

Leo stiffened next to me but didn't say anything. For some odd reason, I reached for his hand under the table and he gripped it with unexpected strength.

'Annabeth,' Percy's voice caught over her name, 'wasn't given a choice.'

The silence was so absolute that the sounds of the ocean seemed to magnify several times till it felt like the surf was right on our doorstep. (Which in a technically, it was.) I'd always tried to ignore the ocean, in an attempt to help with the seasickness, but now it was insistent, demanding to be heard.

Percy looked up at the crew. 'But you all were given a choice.' He paused, waiting to see if anyone disagreed. I saw Liam roll his eyes, but the Son of Demeter didn't say a word. I had a feeling he didn't want to get splashed again.

'See, we _asked _you if you wanted to come.' Percy pointed out, still in that unemotional tone, 'we told you the risks, and we _warned _you about the danger.'

Another beat of silence. We were hanging on to Percy's every word now.

'And we reminded you that the Greeks and Romans _had _to work together.' Percy's green eyes sharpened, cracks disappearing with new resolve. 'Because if you don't work together—if you continue to not trust each other; we won't win this war. Gaia will.'

The sound of her name sent shivers down my spine and the image she showed me rose up in mind's eye. I pushed it away determinedly, now was not the time.

'Thirteen people were injured today,' Percy stated, 'because you couldn't even _stand _next to each other. And this is just the beginning.'

My stomach churned at the thought of facing down another Sea Monster. I didn't know about the others but I definitely wasn't prepared for everything Gaia was about to throw at us. And the fact that we couldn't work together, made me feel even worse.

Percy exhaled and stared at his hands which were on the table. 'Whether this quest succeeds or not is entirely up to you. I wish you guys would remember that.'

The Romans, I noticed, had the grace to look embarrassed, but the Greeks looked vindicated—as though everything Percy said applied only to the other half of the crew. I would be the first to admit that my Camp hadn't made things easy, but the Greeks' blatant disregard of ranks and procedure didn't help matters either.

On a hunch, I looked at Liam, and sure enough he was attempting to cover a yawn. I felt a twinge of disappointment. After everything he'd done for us in the Underworld, there was no way I could hate him but sometimes I wished he wouldn't be so disagreeable to deal with.

Jason cleared his throat, 'I think we all need to learn a lesson from today's events.'

'Oh yeah,' I heard Liam mutter to Leo, 'I learned that Romans have terrible taste when it comes to girls.'

Leo smirked, but suddenly remembered that I was right next to him. Hastily, he rearranged his features, but the damage was already done. I looked away, feeling an unexpected surge of bitterness inside me.

'Anthony,' Jason gestured, 'I can't fault you for protecting your friends... but I do not expect you to repeat the mistake.'

The underlying meaning from his words was clear: _attempt to supersede my authority again and we're going to have a major problem._ Anthony pursed his lips but didn't say anything, choosing to make his silence an agreement.

'Moving on,' Jason continued, 'Leo—damage report?'

Leo let go of my hand under the table and brought it up to drum his fingers. I tried not to feel disappointed; his ADHD made it impossible for him to sit still when all the attention was focused on him.

'Given the circumstances, we did pretty well.' Leo stated, 'aside from the nest and the outer supports of the Bridge, everything else is repairable.' He paused and executed another burst of staccato on the table, 'what _is_ worrying is that our satellite tower got knocked out.'

Jason frowned. 'We're flying blind?'

'Uh huh,' Leo shook his head, 'not _completely_. It's just that we don't have a clue if there are other ships floating around next to us.'

The others murmured and despite my technological backwardness, I understood the gravity of the situation. Staying clear of the U.S. Navy was of paramount importance and if we had no idea where they were; it made sneaking up on us a distinct possibility.

'Get it fixed.' Jason ordered, 'what else?'

'The decks need to be cleared of the debris.' Leo answered, 'especially the Monster's body; the weight is causing the ship to list to one side.'

Jason nodded, as though he'd been expecting that particular news. 'You have your pick of volunteers...' he waved to the rest of us, 'and Percy and I will be glad to do some heavy lifting.'

'Excuse me, Commander?' Hank put up his hand very slowly, as though he was being forced by some other power to do so against his will.

'Yeah?'

Hank fiddled with the collar of his shirt, 'when can we check on our... friends in the infirmary?'

My hand automatically went to Frank's stick and I reminded myself to give it back to him as soon as possible.

Jason snuck a look at Percy, who had gone very rigid and was staring at his hands again. Jason sighed and reached out to pat him, but then pulled away at the last moment after reconsidering it.

'As soon as we're done clearing up the mess. Any other questions?'

There weren't any and after a wave of Jason's hand, everyone began to get up. Leo disappeared into the crowd immediately, off to confer with his siblings on the best way to get the repairs done. I stayed where I was, wondering if I was required to say something to Percy.

By his distant expression, I got the feeling that he wanted to be left alone so I shelved that particular idea. Next to me, Liam was the only other person who hadn't gotten up. He was playing absently with one of the broken pieces of the jug and humming an unfamiliar tune under his breath.

'Hey, Liam.' I couldn't resist bothering him.

Liam looked up, and for a moment he seemed confused as though he didn't know where he was. 'Hazel,' he said with far more warmth than he usually used when it came to dealing with Romans, 'what's up?'

'Why do you hate Romans so much?'

Liam stilled with his movements and very slowly put the shard down on the table. His expression became unfathomable and his blue eyes wavered from the table to his fingers and back again.

'Because...' His eyes narrowed and his fingers twitched like he wanted to pull out his sword, 'because it's easier than the alternative.'

Before I could react, or even wrap my head around the meaning, Liam leaped to his feet and joined the crowd, leaving me both confused, and slightly worried.


	11. Chapter 11

**11) I Start on the "Emo" Path.**

**Annabeth**

The first time I woke up, I was on a cold marble floor.

Which, I admit, was a little disconcerting. The last thing I remembered was trying to attack a Sea Monster nearly five times my size with a very small knife. How in the world did I get from that to _this_?

Sitting up, I glanced around, assessing my surroundings. An enormous, circular hall rose from the marble floor. Ornate pillars marched along the circumference of it. The roof stretched high above me and glittered with what seemed to be a thousand gemstones. Beautiful carvings were inlaid into the edges of the floor, lending a magical aura to the place.

The hall wasn't empty.

Scattered around haphazardly were all kinds of entertainment options. A foosball table stood at the far end of the hall with a billiards table right next to it. A platform for a chessboard stood a few feet away and on my left, a pinball station that looked at least thirty years old occupied some space. The entire place looked like an abandoned Greek gaming room.

Suspicion forming in my head, I turned to my right and nearly jumped out of my skin when I realized I wasn't the only inhabitant of the hall. Sitting on a series of marble steps, which led up to a magnificent throne, was a rather familiar person.

He had yet to notice me and was focusing on a sheet of paper in his hand. I squinted and recognized the squiggles on it from all the hours I'd spent redesigning Mount Olympus.

'Lord Poseidon?' I ventured.

The person looked up and raised a slow eyebrow. There was no doubt about it—he _was _definitely the Sea god, even if he appeared a little world weary. His beard was in a dire need of a proper trimming and the wrinkles around his face were more noticeable than ever but his eyes were as sharp and bright as his son's.

Poseidon curled up his sheets and laid them aside, still examining me closely; as a fisherman might examine a particularly worthy piece of bait he was using.

'Daughter of Athena,' he rumbled, 'I was hoping you might pay me a visit.'

A beat of silence followed that remark as my brain went into overdrive. The only way I could possibly visit Poseidon's palace was if somebody (Percy) took me there. Since I had no recollection of such an event taking place, it seemed logical to assume that I was dreaming. Common sense dictated that I played along with whatever the god said.

'Uh,' I swallowed, 'no problem... sir.'

A hint of a smile appeared on Poseidon's face and he stood up, beckoning me to join him at the far wall. Feeling increasingly uncertain, I got to my feet and followed, catching sight of a large crack in the middle of the chessboard as I passed by.

Poseidon followed my gaze. 'Demeter gifted that to me once...' His expression turned troubled, 'a very long time ago.'

'It's a beautiful set.' I said, in my politest tone, wondering if flattery was the way to go with this particular immortal. I'd had very little contact with Percy's dad and though Percy hadn't spoken about him much; I'd always gotten the sense that Poseidon was a bit of a cool guy.

As we neared the wall, Poseidon raised a hand and the solid marble slid up and into the ceiling, like one of those futuristic doors on spaceships. A transparent film took its place and through it I caught my first glimpse of Atlantis, Poseidon's famed city.

Underwater buildings spread out like a carpet underneath, bright lights twinkling everywhere. I could see whole streets of the city's inhabitants –a combination of merpeople and other sea life– going about their usual business. Strange flora decorated parks and lined avenues. In one corner I spotted the broken hull of a wooden ship.

'Magnificent, isn't it?' Poseidon reached out and touched the transparent film with a finger, as though he was testing its consistency.

Despite the strange situation I was in, I had to agree that Poseidon had some pretty top notch headquarters.

'It's breathtaking.' I said, 'whoever designed the city had a subtle eye for lines.'

Poseidon half-chuckled. 'I'd forgotten you were Olympus' official architecture.'

'Well, I was...' I trailed off, knowing I was treading into dangerous waters (literally) and yet somehow not caring anyway, 'before, you know, the war started.'

Poseidon didn't answer and when I snuck a look, I could see the tension radiating off him. His shoulders were bunched together and his jaw was tight. His green eyes had narrowed dangerously. Out, across the city, I could feel his anger simmering, waiting for a chance to explode.

The change in his mood was so acute that it made a lot of things (like why I was here) fall into place.

My chest turned hollow with dread. 'You know.'

Poseidon smiled bitterly and poked at the substance in front of him again. His jaw worked, as though he was grinding his teeth together.

'Your mother might take me for a fool...' He said, eyes flitting to me and away again, 'and I may not be the sharpest swordfish in the sea, but I always _know _when my son is in danger.'

Every instinct on my body told me to run. To get away from the mighty god and his terrible anger but I stayed rooted to the spot. If Poseidon knew; I _had_ to ask for his help and besides—where else could I go? It wasn't as though my dream was giving any signs of fading away.

'I'm trying to save him.' The words tumbled out of my mouth as fast as I could get them to, 'I'm trying to find another way.'

Poseidon's shoulders relaxed a little and he drew his hand away from the clear wall. I breathed an inward sigh of relief; maybe he wasn't thinking of drowning me after all. Before I could elaborate on my plans however, Poseidon spoke.

'You seek the other Pearl.'

I was a little surprised by his accurate guess but I kept it hidden. No sense in making the god feel like he was being a genius for figuring out something so obvious.

'Do you know where it is?' I forced down the unreasonable burst of optimism inside me. My mother had mentioned that even _she _couldn't find it which basically meant _no_ god could. Still; I was willing to work on anything—even a divine hunch.

Poseidon, however, ignored the question altogether. 'And what will you do if you find the other Pearl?'

My throat went dry, which was ironic considering I was surrounded by about a million gallons of water.

'I... don't know.' I admitted, 'I was focusing more on the "finding it" part.'

Poseidon sighed and turned away from the view of his city. His eyes radiated equal parts anger and sorrow and I caught a hint of yearning in his demeanour; almost as though he would be more than willing to take his son's place.

'You cannot let Percy die.' He said softly.

'I wasn't planning on—'

'But you cannot give that Pearl to Gaia either.' Poseidon interrupted. His features softened a tad bit when he took in my horrified expression. 'Giving her such immense power will not win us this war.'

I gritted my teeth in an effort to calm myself. If there was one thing I hated about gods (aside from their egoistical personalities and manipulative tendencies) it was their constant need to talk down to everybody. Honestly; I _knew_ the consequences of handing over the Pearls to Gaia—I wasn't a complete idiot.

'Lord Poseidon,' I maintained my careful tone, 'trust me; I would like nothing better than to keep Percy alive _and _to defeat Gaia. Unfortunately; I can't think of a way to achieve that.'

'You can't?' Poseidon's expression turned genuinely puzzled. 'Your mother once that stated you were the smartest of her children. I expected more from you.'

I opened my mouth but nothing came out of it. This was probably the _only _time in all seventeen years of my existence that I'd been rendered speechless. And that too by my mother's greatest rival. My amazement turned into cold anger very quickly: who was he to expect anything from me?

'Sorry to disappoint,' I muttered, 'it happens when I'm under pressure like, oh, when I'm trying to save your son_ without your help._'

Poseidon didn't react the way he was supposed to. I'd expected him to blow up, or even get moody, but instead he took the criticism head on and didn't try and excuse himself out of it. In the back of my head, I wondered what the god had done to piss off the people who wrote Greek mythology. They'd really put him down as a spoilt brat.

'Perhaps you aren't looking at it the right way,' Poseidon considered out loud, 'perhaps your mother has blinded your gaze.'

I stared at him. 'I don't know what you're talking about.' Then, because he was looking at me in a rather infuriating manner, I added, 'and I haven't spoken to my mother since Camp Jupiter.'

Poseidon's expression changed. 'Camp Jupiter,' he repeated warily, 'is that where you heard the prophecy?'

I reminded myself that Poseidon, as a Greek god, was probably very uncomfortable talking about his Roman half. Somehow I couldn't bring myself to sympathize with him.

'Ella recited the prophecy.' I told him, 'she's this crazy harpy with photographic memory.'

'Did anyone else hear it?' Poseidon's green eyes grew troubled.

I sighed and felt like slumping against the wall. 'I was pretty much the only one there—aside from my mom and your brother of course.'

There was a beat of silence as Poseidon took in the news. I wondered if he was finally going to offer some insight, but as usual, he changed tack.

'Zeus is playing a dangerous game,' Poseidon said (rather needlessly in my opinion), 'and he's too stubborn to realize it.'

I reminded myself not to say that Zeus very rarely realized he was "playing a dangerous game," which was really a politically correct way of saying "he's being an idiot." The King of gods had a bad habit of zapping mortals who spoke out against him. And while I didn't fear death –who could once they had been to the Underworld?– I was determined to save Percy's life. Dying would put a bit of a damper on those plans.

'It doesn't matter what Zeus does. What matters is if you can help me.' I fixed Poseidon with a hopeful look, 'can you?'

Poseidon expression turned uneasy. He sent a swift glance to his ceiling as though he was expecting Olympus SWAT to burst in any moment and arrest him on the spot.

'You have to understand,' he explained when he caught my raised eyebrow, 'there is only so much I can tell you.'

The earlier anger I felt towards him returned with blinding force when I heard his words. I'd been here for five minutes and instead of him _helping _me Poseidon was resorting to the "my hands are tied by the rules" excuse that I'd come to expect from my mother.

'Your brother is plotting—_has _been plotting for months to have your son murdered and you're telling me that you can't help save his _life_?' I curled my fists, ignoring the bite of my nails, 'what kind of father are you?'

An ominous silence followed and a slight tremor rumbled under the marble floor. Apparently, I'd crossed the divine line. Out of the corner of my eye I saw the bright lights of the city vanish. Poseidon turned to me, a dreadful anger burning in his eyes.

'Do not _presume_ to comprehend my inaction Annabeth Chase!' He thundered, a familiar trident appearing in a flash of blue smoke.

I took a nervous step away, scrabbling for the weapon I didn't have. For one awful moment it appeared as though my dream-self was going to be vaporized by the trident, but then it passed and Poseidon turned away and leaned against the transparent wall, looking more like an old man than an all-powerful god of the sea.

The lights of the city flickered back on.

I drew a relieved breath, trying to steady my racing heart.

Poseidon glanced at me, anger not as bright in his eyes. 'I cannot help you directly because of certain... circumstances.' For some reason, he shifted his gaze to the cracked chessboard. 'But I can tell you this: focus on the prophecy.'

Still a little shaken by the consequence of earlier comment I forced my tone to remain neutral. 'The prophecy's message is clear.'

'Not all of it,' Poseidon countered, 'I want you to think about it _very_ carefully.'

His words made it clear that he wasn't waiting for an argument. I sighed and went through the lines in my head again, wondering if there was any point to this whole dream.

'Remember what you are hoping to achieve,' Poseidon advised, 'and you will find the answer. A prophecy is always open to interpretation—you know that.'

I frowned at his statement, not because I disagreed with him but because what he said wasn't all that wrong. I decided that if I ever went back to talking to my mother; the first question I would ask would be _why _she thought the Sea god was such an idiot.

Just as I was on the verge to giving up, a line occurred to me; something which had given me hope earlier on but now turned very different when viewed with another perspective.

'_Powers of the gods divided in two,_' I recited, with a growing feeling of excitement, '_together they be used the chances be few._'

Poseidon watched me silently.

The encounter with my mother came back to me and a little bit of what she'd said struggled to the forefront of my brain. It hadn't registered all that while ago because I'd been an emotional mess, but now, under the new guidance I was receiving, I was beginning to see light at the end of the tunnel.

_We could have used both the Pearls and defeated Gaia, but one is lost and looking for it is illogical__. _

Trembling from the force of all that I'd discovered in the space of a minute and a half, I turned to Poseidon. 'The Pearls can be used to defeat Gaia—but how?'

For the first time in the entire conversation, Poseidon smiled properly. 'Excellent,' he murmured, 'I'd hoped you would see past your mother's prejudice.'

'She thinks I'll never be able to find the other Pearl.' I reminded him.

Poseidon waved that off. 'She could be wrong.'

_I sincerely doubt it, _I thought to myself. My mother, for all her innumerable faults was rarely wrong about strategy. For her to have resorted to asking me to kill Percy (an area with an unpredictable outcome) over just using both the Pearls to destroy Gaia (an area with a predictable outcome) meant that she genuinely believed the other Pearl couldn't be found.

I made myself think past that. There were still several other questions that needed answering. 'How can the power of the Pearls be released? I'm assuming it can't be done by just anyone.'

Poseidon grimaced, signalling that we'd arrived to the least favourite part of the discussion. 'Unfortunately I can't answer that.'

'Why not?!'

'Because the Pearls have never been used!' He exclaimed, 'they are old and powerful—relics of another, better, age.' Poseidon sighed, 'whether a single person can wield their power without disintegrating... is doubtful.'

I chewed my lip, thinking over his words. What Poseidon said was the main problem: they were still intact. Even the _gods_ didn't know how destructive they could be, though all of them were at a consensus that they were destructive enough. Then again... the reason why'd they'd never been used was because of the precedent set—not one hero could hope to master their power.

'Not a single person...' I repeated, feeling the adrenalin rush of a breakthrough, 'but what about two?'

Poseidon blinked, which I took to mean that he was in complete shock. Gods don't often act surprised—I had to make do with what I'd been presented.

'You think...' Poseidon shook his head, more troubled than awed at my suggestion, 'I don't know if Jason Grace is capable.'

'Who else then?' I argued, not willing to give up so easily, 'Hera chose him for a reason!'

'Hera chose him because he is a leader.'

'A _Roman _leader,' I emphasised, 'those guys don't choose their Praetors because they look pretty.'

Poseidon didn't answer and stared at the chessboard as though he was willing it to give him answers. If I wasn't so invested in his answer, I might have wondered why he was so attached to the damn thing.

'Percy might harness the power of one Pearl,' Poseidon eventually said, his tone making it clear that he was still mulling it over, 'but only because he has the Curse. Whether Jason can replicate that sheer strength...' The Sea god fixed me with a look, 'you see why I am disinclined to believe in him.'

I resisted the urge to throw my hands up in annoyance. 'It doesn't matter, does it? If I have to save Percy then I _have _to believe Jason is capable enough.'

...Or so I told myself. Jason was a prime candidate to release the power of the Pearl. He was the son of Jupiter—king of the gods! He was smart and brave and possessed a dedication that was both intimidating and refreshing. So why was some part of me rebelling against the idea? If not Jason, then who?

Meanwhile, Poseidon was gazing out across his city, trident clenched in one hand. He looked like a General that was waiting for a miracle to save his army. It floored me to realize that I was that miracle. Percy's survival –and by extension the rest of the world's survival– rested on my shoulders. Talk about a heavy burden.

None of it mattered however, if I couldn't find the other Pearl. And the way I was going, I was far from it.

'Lord Poseidon?' My voice cracked slightly under the strain, 'what about the missing Pearl? Do you know where it is?'

The silence was overpowering. This was crunch time. Everything hinged on the god's answer. Poseidon turned away from the window and stared at me with calculating eyes. His response was far from helpful.

'Gaia has been searching for it.'

My dream heart stopped beating for the five seconds of shock that followed his words. Which was odd, because Liam and revealed the same information to me a week ago, down in the Underworld How had I forgotten it so easily?

'She's... _what?_'

'Searching for it.' Poseidon repeated, as though I hadn't heard what he'd said the first time. 'For a long time.' He added after a moment.

My mouth opened and closed and I had a feeling I looked exactly like a goldfish. The irony of that thought wasn't lost on me at all.

'Why?' I finally managed. 'Why is she—what could she _possibly_ do with one Pearl?'

Poseidon shrugged. 'Not much I suppose. But she _is_ aware of its power when paired with the other.'

'So she's looking for it so that she can stop me from finding it?' I wrestled with the concept of Gaia being so... smart. In stories, the villain always does the evil laugh in the third act—just when the hero swoops in to save the day. But my life wasn't a story and if I didn't get to the Pearl before Gaia did; we wouldn't even reach the third act.

'You can use this to your advantage.' Poseidon said gravely, drawing me out of my thoughts.

I glared at him. 'I'm not seeing the silver lining yet.'

The sarcasm fell on deaf ears; Poseidon was positively enigmatic as though he'd solved something huge.

'Considering her vast resources, there is a possibility that she finds the Pearl before you.'

'I _really _don't see how this—'

'Think!' Poseidon exclaimed impatiently, 'if she finds the Pearl—and safe guards it, doesn't it make your quest much easier?'

I opened my mouth with the sole intention of telling the god in no uncertain terms what I thought of his harebrained logic when my brain decided to go along with the ride just for the sake of it.

'How?' I demanded, 'if it falls into her possession I'll never be able to get it back! Transferred ownership, remember?'

Poseidon didn't appear to be fazed by the argument. In fact, he smirked. Widely. 'The Pearls were designed only for the use of heroes.'

'Which means...?'

'Which means _she _can never posses the Pearl.' Poseidon explained, 'only a demigod working for her can.'

Another long moment of silence followed his words as my brain raced to catch up. My chest hurt with the effort of assimilating all the pieces of the puzzle. Gaia hadn't found the Pearl yet, but it was improbable I would find it before her—considering I had no leads about its location and that she had a huge head start on me.

On the other hand, if she did find the Pearl, she would need a demigod to claim. If, in some way, I could waylay said demigod, then I stood a chance of securing the Pearl.

Of course, the small matter of whether Jason could use it was still up in the air. But that was completely out of my hands, so it decided not to concentrate on it.

'The war has blinded my sight,' Poseidon said quietly, 'and much of what I could have known is now lost. But I foresee a time when you shall have the opportunity to fulfil your duty, and I promise you, Daughter of Athena, I shall help when that time comes.'

I didn't say the requisite "thank you." In my mind, Poseidon had no choice _but _to help me if he wanted to save his son. Why he couldn't have acted sooner to keep my mother and Zeus from plotting was beyond me.

I studied him carefully, trying to ignore the spasm of pain I was experiencing in my lungs. There was something off about the whole deal. I had no doubt about the power of the Pearls but there was still that line in the prophecy—that very _clear_ line which said that a Son of Poseidon was going to die by his love's hand.

And how many sons of Poseidon were there?

Only one.

So why had Poseidon not thought to discuss it with me? Prophecies may be open to interpretation, but whatever the interpretation was, it had to work as a whole. Right now, I had two opposite ideas which negated each other.

I hissed slightly as the pain upped a notch and put my hand against my shirt, hoping to rub it off. Poseidon was back to staring at his chessboard with a haunted look in his eye. He was definitely hiding something—the question wasn't _what_ but _why. _

Before I had a chance to follow that train of thought, my chest exploded into a world of agony. I inhaled and struggled to stay on my feet, fighting off the rising fear.

'What... the...?' I gasped, trying to articulate the feeling of a Polar bear pounding away on my ribcage.

Poseidon didn't look concerned. He glanced up thoughtfully. 'Oh. I suppose they're bringing you back now.'

'Bringing me back...?' If I hadn't been so focused on staying upright I might have managed to inject some outrage into that statement. Even so, I decided to try the question again.

'Bringing me back from what?' I wheezed, 'am I dead?'

'I believe the correct term is "clinical death."' Poseidon said in the mildest of tones.

Gritting my teeth, I forced myself to concentrate. 'How _long _have I been out?' My head raced to approximate the time, 'fifteen minutes?'

That wasn't so good. Brain death occurred within four minutes of stopped blood circulation and I knew for a fact that I'd been chatting with Poseidon for far longer than that. Panic welled inside me, adding to my overall... discomfort.

'I wouldn't worry,' Poseidon said, reading my mind. His mouth had the barest hint of that sarcastic, troublemaking smile I'd seen so many times on his son. 'Dreams have a different sense of time—haven't you seen Inception?'

At this point I was in too much agony to say anything except a garbled mix of curses in Ancient Greek and English, with some Latin that Jason had taught me thrown in for good measure.

'We won't meet again, Annabeth Chase.' Poseidon's earlier humour was gone, replaced by a wary fear 'but when you need me; I shall be there. You are my son's only hope.'

I opened my mouth to respond but like a candle being extinguished with a single breath, my surroundings dissolved into blackness in an instant and I finally succumbed to the pain, drifting into the nothingness with a sense of relief.

* * *

The second time I woke up, it was to a blinding headache.

My eyelids fluttered, trying to obey the two different commands from my head. One wanted the pain to stop and the other was determined to figure out where the hell I was. After a brief battle, I arrived at a consensus at cracked one eye open.

The first thing I noticed was how _white _my surroundings were. The colour radiated off everything and made my headache much worse. My other senses jumped into line to make up for it and I felt a soothing softness behind my head—as though I was lying on feathers. A pillow, I realized a moment later, which meant I was on a bed.

'Mmpfk.' I muttered, working around the cotton ball in my mouth.

A blurry figure appeared took shape in front of me. 'Annabeth?'

Stimuli rushed in and the white light dissipated, letting my eyes open properly. The strange (but oddly comforting) image of the _Argo II's _infirmary materialized around me. And hovering to my right was Percy.

'Hey,' he was smiling, despite the strain in his eyes, 'welcome back.'

I shifted around, trying to make sense of my injuries when the back of my head gave a nasty twinge, sending a domino effect over the rest of my body. My chest felt like I'd burned it, my shoulders were heavy and the beginnings of nausea stirred in my stomach.

Percy, meanwhile, was busy. 'Get me Will Solace,' he ordered to someone who was out of my line of sight.

Ignoring the protests from my head and chest, I pulled myself into a sitting position. Oddly enough, the soft material encasing my head followed me. Apparently it wasn't a pillow after all. Slightly disturbed, I raised a hand and reached out, stopping when my fingers hit something stiff.

'Bandages,' I croaked in surprise, 'why do I have bandages around my head?'

Percy sat down in a chair and took my hand. His grasp was warm. Reassuring. His eyes were full of concern. Similar to his father's and yet different at the same time.

'How much do you remember?'

I frowned at the question and made a split second decision to keep the dream a secret. 'There was a Sea Monster,' I winced, remembering the acid saliva, 'a _huge _Sea Monster. I think I tried to attack its tail...'

Percy waited for me to continue but I couldn't. My memory went fuzzy after that. Screams of terror echoed distantly inside my head but I couldn't tell if they'd actually happened or if I was filling in the gaps on my own.

My eyes drifted around the rest of the infirmary. It had about twenty-five beds in all, but aside from mine, only three others were occupied. Two of them were Romans: one boy, one girl. The other girl, a Greek, I recognized at once, despite the heavy casts all over her.

'Is that Katie?' I blinked, hoping that I'd made a mistake. 'What happened...?'

Percy squeezed my hand reassuringly. 'She's better now. Got trapped under a pile of debris for a bit.'

With almost HD quality I had a sudden vision of the outer supports of the Bridge, and the nest, falling to the main deck.

'And the others?' I nodded to the occupied beds, trying to recall their names.

'About the same.' Percy answered, 'Jessica suffered a concussion. Pique broke six ribs. Don't worry,' Percy said, catching my horrified expression, 'they'll be fine in a couple of days.'

Before I had a chance to ask how he was so sure, the door at the end of the infirmary opened and Will Solace walked in. Even from a distance I could see how tired the Son of Apollo was, though the cheery smile he had on might have indicated otherwise.

'And Sleeping Beauty awakes.' Will winked, reaching for a very professional looking patient's chart from the end of my bed. I could see my name scrawled in capital letters on the front, in bright red ink.

Resisting the urge to prod at my bandage again, I focused on the elephant in the room. 'What happened to me?'

An uncomfortable silence followed my question. Will pursed his lips and glanced at Percy. 'You didn't tell her?'

Percy's eyes narrowed. 'I don't want to think about it.'

I took that to mean I'd had another close brush with death.

Will sighed and flipped through the bunch of sheets on the clipboard he was holding. After hemming and hawing for a minute he fixed me with a resigned look.

'Your main injury is a hairline fracture on your temporal bone.' Will started, pointing to the side of my head with a pen he'd unclipped for the chart. 'This, I believe, happened when you hit your head against the bronze plating of the _Argo II._'

Mystified, I glanced at Percy, hoping he'd fill me in. I had no recollection of smacking my brain so hard that I'd caused my skull to splinter. Then again, brain injury _did _mean a loss of memory.

Percy refused to move his gaze from our interlocked hands.

'You also spent several minutes in the ocean,' Will continued, 'which resulted in hypothermia and near drowning.'

'I drowned?' I repeated, amazed by the extent of injuries I'd amassed because of one Sea Monster.

'Only for a little bit.' Will assured me, 'Percy managed to get the water out. But your lungs will probably hurt for a little while more.'

In response to that I put a hand against my chest.

Will flipped the sheet over. 'The fracture also caused a major artery to leak blood into your brain. Unfortunately, when we were draining out the blood, you suffered cardiac arrest.' He paused and looked up, 'twice.'

My fingers tightened above the gown I'd been fitted into. At least now I knew my chest was feeling so tender. They'd probably shocked my heart with paddles, which had burned my skin.

'Anything else?' I asked, keeping my tone stoic.

Will smiled. 'That's about it.' He placed the chart down, 'your facture should heal by the morning—I've got on you on a nectar drip.' He pointed to my right where a tube hung from a stand next to Percy's chair and disappeared under the blanket, presumably into my arm.

Percy tightened his grip on my hand and looked up worriedly. 'Will there be any long term consequences?'

I rolled my eyes but Will took the question on with panache. He fished out a flashlight and without warning swung it straight into my eye.

I grimaced, turning away. 'Stop burning my retinas!'

Will chuckled, pocketing the flashlight. 'I think Annabeth will be fine. Here, what's the cube root of three hundred and forty three?'

I glared at him. 'Seven. Couldn't you have _tried _to make it difficult?'

Will spread his hands in an "I- told- you- so" kind of way but Percy didn't seem to buy it. The pressure of his thumb was increasing and I was pretty sure he was going to leave a mark on my wrist.

'Tell you what,' Will rested a hand on Percy's shoulder, 'I'll get Comm. to put me on an open channel with whoever's on Infirmary duty. That way if anything happens; I'll be down in an instant.'

Percy gave a noncommittal shrug to that which Will took as an agreement. He turned to one side and waved someone else over, the person I presumed who'd been sent to get him earlier.

It was Sherman, and he was sporting a beautiful black eye. It was fine specimen really. Just the right shade of colour to tell anyone viewing it that you meant business. The downside was that it probably hurt like Hades. What I didn't get was why Sherman hadn't just dabbed some nectar on to it. Or eaten a square of ambrosia.

I couldn't resist saying as much once Will was done instructing him. 'Shouldn't you get that fixed?'

Sherman looked horrified at the suggestion. 'And lose my badge of honour? No thanks.'

I wanted to pursue the matter but Percy's and Will's guarded expressions told me that there wasn't an amusing story behind the injury. Obviously, Sherman hadn't acquired it because of the Sea Monster. It looked like it had been inflicted with great personal vengeance.

'Okay then. Will cleared his throat once he was done repeating the orders to Sherman, 'I'll uh... leave you two to it.'

With an exaggerated wiggling of eyebrows, Will managed to pass on the message of departure to Sherman. Together they retreated, mumbling excuses about how they were needed urgently elsewhere.

I raised an eyebrow. 'What's up with them?'

Percy fiddled with his collar, not meeting my eyes. 'I may or may not have gone a little crazy when you got hurt.'

'Huh.' I found myself concentrating on my blanket. Seriously, whose bright idea was it to put lace on the edges? 'That's... interesting.'

'Yeah...' Percy switched his gaze to the ceiling and I looked around, determined to find another topic of conversation. My eye caught one of the portholes, registering the darkness outside with mild shock.

'Hold on,' I swung my head around, searching for a clock. 'What time is it?'

'Umm...' Percy failed at finding a reliable time source as well, 'around ten I think. You missed dinner.'

My stomach turned at the very thought and I thanked my brain for not waking me up sooner. I had no doubt that if I had, someone might have decided to force feed me. Probably the same someone who thought putting lace on the blankets was a good idea.

On cue, Percy's forehead creased. 'You should eat something. I'll get Sherman to—'

'No!' I clenched at his hand, trying desperately to not think of food. I grasped around for a change of topic and unwisely chose my injuries to expand on.

'I've been out for what, five hours? That's...' I came to a painful stop, watching the rush of emotions across Percy's face—anger, fear, helplessness, determination.

All at once I realized how nothing had truly changed. My dream with Poseidon meant nothing, absolutely _nothing _if I couldn't get Percy to let go of me. My chances of finding the Pearl and Jason's chances of unleashing its power were slim to nothing.

If I succeeded, well then it would be well and good. If I didn't, it wouldn't matter. Percy would be dead and I... I would probably be dead too. The thought was so sharp—so blindingly _clear_ that it distracted me from the nausea.

Poseidon had pleaded with me to save his son's life. But he too had said that letting Gaia win was not an option. I understood the significance of that statement now: prepare for the worst. It was obvious what the worst was.

It was my duty to protect Percy. So if, gods forbid, it came down to stabbing him—well, I was going to make sure that he hated me long before I came anywhere near it.

Because if he died believing that the person he trusted the most was the one responsible for killing him, it would break him forever. I held on to the belief that when he made Elysium (there was no doubt about that he would) it would be with a clear conscience. No burden, no guilt. No wondering _why. _

I would let Percy hate me, to stop him from hating himself.

This was my punishment. This was my penance. And it some odd way I relished it. I wasn't a good person, so why was I letting everyone treat me like one?

Without a clear thought, my fingers unwrapped themselves from his hand and fell to the side.

Percy frowned and reached for my hand but I tucked it under the covers.

'Annabeth—?'

'I need you to do me a favour.' My voice sounded unnatural even to my ears.

Percy seemed puzzled, but he went along with it. 'Sure. What do you need?'

_Something to push him away, _I thought to myself. _Something that makes it abundantly clear that you don't want him here. What could it be? _

'A book.' I decided out loud, staring at my blanket. 'There's this Greek mythology book on my bedside table. Could you get it for me?'

The silence that followed was so encompassing that I could hear Katie's muffled breathing five beds down. Bringing up every ounce of courage I had, I lifted my head and Percy's baffled gaze squarely.

'You want me to...?' He stopped, and shook his head in disbelief. 'You want to read a book? _Now?_'

I forced myself not to give in. I had to stay strong—for the both of us.

'Yeah.' I paused and injected as much sarcasm I could bear without hating myself. 'Are you going to get it or not?'

For five long seconds Percy stood undecided on the line between asking me what the hell was wrong and just going with the flow. I saw the struggle in his eyes—the incomprehension, the hurt, the inevitable self blame.

And more than ever I just wanted to reach out and collapse into his arms. I wanted to confess and tell him I was scared. That I couldn't do what was required of me; that even with all the new possibilities, I was just wasn't good enough to save him and the world.

I didn't though, and at that moment Percy stepped into the "go with flow field." I had a feeling that we'd just chosen paths we were going to stick to no matter what.

'Okay.' He said, as though he was testing the words, 'bedside table, right?'

I nodded, not trusting myself to speak.

'Okay.' Percy said again. He stood up, and without another word to me (or Sherman who was sitting by the door), walked right out of the infirmary.

* * *

You know how in the movies, after a character makes an important decision, they stare moodily into the distance, contemplating the choice they've just made? Sometimes it's accompanied by beautiful music. Sometimes not. Either way, they have the time to commit fully themselves to their cause.

Yeah, I didn't get that luxury. Less than two minutes after Percy left, Jason walked in, barking a few short sentences to Sherman as he passed by.

'Hey,' Jason greeted me with a huge grin, which looked a little out of place after the frown he wore when talking to Sherman. 'Will told me you were awake.'

Jason threw himself into Percy's vacated chair and observed me for half a minute, before pronouncing, 'you look terrible.'

'Thanks.' I patted my head bandage which I was pretty sure resembled a white, slightly askew, turban. 'I tried my best for a spot in the infirmary.'

Jason began to chuckle but was interrupted halfway by an enormous yawn.

'You know, you're the one who looks like crap.' I pointed out, wondering just _how _this tired, beaten down boy in front of me was going to unleash the power of a Pearl. Physically, Jason looked fine but there was a bone deep weariness in his eyes that even his good humour couldn't mask.

'Cut me some slack.' Jason yawned again, 'I've been yelling at people all day.'

'Like Sherman?' I settled back against the pillows, figuring that now that Jason was here I might as well get the whole story. Anything to take my mind off what I'd just done to Percy.

Jason scowled. 'It isn't funny. He and Eric got into a fight in the Engine Room. Leo nearly set himself on fire with anxiety.'

I coughed to cover up the urge to laugh. How odd was it that mere minutes ago I felt like crying? That was life. It gave you lemons and laughing gas together, just for the kicks.

'Why'd they end up fighting?'

'I don't know!' Jason exclaimed, running a hand over his jaw. 'Something about Eric staring at Sherman's girlfriend.'

This time, I coughed for real, I was _that_ surprised.

'Sherman has a girlfriend?!'

Jason threw me a sideways look. 'Funny you should ask. Apparently he and Emily are together.'

I felt my jaw drop. Metaphorically that is. Jaws don't drop in real life. 'Emily? My _sister _Emily?'

'The very same.' Jason's frustration melted away into amusement, at my reaction. 'You didn't know?'

'No, I didn't.' I racked my brain, trying to remember any untoward behaviour on her part but unfortunately the last year of my life was pretty much a blur of increasing anger against the gods.

'Well,' Jason stretched his legs out, 'if you're planning on lecturing her, don't. Malcolm already covered that base.'

I frowned, mystified at the thought of telling off my sister for her unconventional choices in boys. It wasn't like I was the gold standard. Then again, I was now on my way there. My lovely mother would have been so proud of the decision I'd just made—for all the wrong reasons.

'Anyway,' Jason drew me out of my thoughts, 'I'm glad you're okay. I don't think I could have handled Percy otherwise.'

I rolled my eyes. Gods forbid he was just glad for _me. _'You need to stop overreacting. Why would Percy do anything to you? It was my fault that I went after the Sea Monster with a knife.'

Jason opened his mouth to say something, but closed it a second later, evidently changing his mind. I wanted to demand an answer but my suspicions were unfounded so I let it go and changed the topic.

'Shouldn't you be up on the Bridge?' I asked, 'you know, to make sure we aren't attacked again?'

Jason grimaced, shifting uncomfortably in his chair. 'I was there. But I uh... wanted a change of scenery.'

'Huh.' I raised my eyebrows, recalling the Watch lists I'd been drawing up earlier in the day, 'so you're _not_ avoiding Piper then?'

Jason's expression was a cross between amazement and exasperation. 'How did you...?'

I tapped the mass of bandages around my head. 'My memory's perfectly fine. She's up on the Bridge, isn't she?'

'Manning the radar station.' Jason confirmed with a despondent sigh.

I shook my head. 'I don't understand you. It's obvious that you like her—and it's obvious that she likes you. So what's the problem?'

Jason gazed out of the porthole, probably attempting to see beyond the darkness. 'There's no problem,' he said in a somewhat bitter tone, 'there's no problem at all.'

I waited, but he didn't elaborate. The silence stretched between us, but didn't dissipate. It grew heavier with unspoken things till I could feel the displeasure radiating off Jason.

'Just ask her out.' I tried, 'it's not that hard. You guys could have a date on the main deck and—'

'You think I haven't thought about that?' Jason interrupted. His blue eyes were back on me but they were hard; like shattered ice. Suddenly, I got the sense that this wasn't a black-and-white matter like I'd previously thought it to be.

Jason's mouth twisted into a sour smile. 'Because I have. I think about it _every _second I'm near her.' He took a deep breath, trying to calm himself, 'it's horrible. I want to hold her but I can't lead her on. I want to comfort her but I can't make a sound. Do you _really _think asking her out is a problem for me?'

Ignoring my instincts, I cut in, 'then why haven't you?'

'Because _one_ captain, at least, has to stay focused!' Jason burst out, clenching the armrests of the chair.

I stared at him and his expression quickly turned from anger to guilt. But the damage was done. As stated earlier, my memory was working perfectly well. Keeping my tone steady, I broke the silence.

'What do you mean?'

Jason, however, was in full retreat. 'I didn't mean that.'

'Yes you did. Now explain what you said.'

'Annabeth—'

'No!' I sucked in a lungful of air, hoping it would ease the spike of pain in my head. 'You don't get to say things like that and pretend it never happened! _What_ did you mean?'

Jason looked away. At first I thought he was going to bail; all he had to do was get up and leave, it wasn't like I could follow him, but then I realized he was trying to figure out how to put his feelings into words.

'When you fell into the water,' he began, still refusing to meet my eye, 'there was about five inches of the Sea Monster's neck left to cut through.' He looked at me, 'do you understand? _Five inches._'

I didn't reply, watching in mind's eye as Percy and Jason struggled about on the Sea Monster with their swords drawn. With a sinking feeling I knew that the end of this story was not a good one.

'Five inches.' Jason repeated, 'and then you fell. And Percy—it didn't matter to him how close we were to defeating the monster. It didn't _matter _how close the ship was to toppling. All he cared about; was getting to you.'

Jason scrubbed at his face, revealing glimpses of the tired, drawn out man he'd become. 'It was like... tunnel vision,' he said, 'Percy couldn't see _anything _except that you were in danger.'

I tried to form a semblance of an argument. 'Will told me I nearly drowned. So Percy didn't come jumping after me—'

'Because I didn't let him!' Jason broke in. 'I grabbed on and I didn't let go. I couldn't have killed the monster without him and he knew that. But he didn't care.'

'You got the thing in the end!' I pointed out, 'what difference does it make how you got there?'

Jason sighed, in a way which told me I was missing his point completely. 'Remember what Piper said earlier today?'

Even though I knew it was serious question I had to physically stop myself from making a snide remark about how the rest of the world didn't hang on to Piper's every word. It wouldn't have been very productive to the conversation.

'No, I don't. What did she say?'

Jason looked at me seriously. 'She reminded us that Percy has a weakness, and that it isn't his Achilles spot or his vulnerability to Imperial Gold.' Jason's stare was piercing. '_You_ are his weakness, Annabeth.'

My rational side wanted to burst out laughing at the sheer absurdity of what I'd just heard. My logical side however was whispering; reminding me of what my mother had told Percy a long time ago.

_To save your friend you would sacrifice the world. _

'Look, it's not a bad thing.' Jason said, 'he loves you and stuff. Good for him. But when you're in danger, his priorities are compromised. And that's dangerous.'

I attempted to wrap my head around what Jason was getting at. 'So you're argument for not dating Piper is that you don't want to get... _compromised?_'

'My argument,' Jason emphasised, 'is that Percy has a weakness. I can't afford one as well. This quest—there's too much riding on it.'

I didn't know what to say. What he was doing to himself was heroic bordering on insanity. I also had a sneaking suspicion that Jason was looking for reasons to stay away from Piper. I'd gotten the feeling that things between him and Reyna weren't over and done with, and this outburst just reinforced my opinion.

_Boys, _I thought to myself, _need to get their shit together._

Before I had a chance to elaborate on my views, Percy re-entered the infirmary, holding the book I'd sent him out for. Whatever vague happiness I'd pulled in since he'd left, disappeared in a rush and for the brief moment our gazes met, I saw the anger glimmering clearly. He'd taken the time alone to prime himself for a nice big argument.

'Percy!' Jason called, getting to his feet. 'Hey I just came to visit Annabeth. Where've you been?'

I winced, but it wasn't loud enough and Percy, with the single minded stubbornness that he possessed, decided to draw the awkwardness out.

'Getting a book,' he replied, 'for Annabeth. Apparently it's really important.'

Jason looked between us in confusion. 'Book? Don't you guys want to talk to each other or... ?' Too late the understanding hit Jason and he petered off into a tense silence.

'No.' Percy answered the hanging question. 'No, Annabeth _has_ to read this. She can't do without it.'

Our gazes locked. I knew he was baiting me; he was practically begging for a fight in the hopes that we could clear the air. I kept my expression cool. There would be no air clearing.

'Well,' Jason took an exaggerated glance at his bare wrist, 'would you _look _at the time? I need to be at the Bridge. Later guys.'

And the coward actually stepped aside and jogged out of the infirmary as though there was a crisis that needed his attention. The worst part was that I hadn't even got to cross examine him on the ridiculous notions he'd come up with. Percy, however, didn't even watch him go—he hadn't shifted his stare from me. I gritted my teeth. Was he going to make me spell it out for him?

'Thank you.' I held out my hand, 'for getting it. Means a lot.'

A grim smile played on his lips. 'Oh I'm just glad I could help you out.' Percy tossed the book to me but didn't move from his spot at the foot of my bed. I flipped open to a random page, hoping he'd take the hint.

He didn't.

Resigning myself to ending the game I looked up. 'I'll see you around I guess. When I'm feeling better.'

For a fleeting moment, Percy's resolve weakened and he took a step towards me. However, something –I'm not entirely sure what– stopped him just as his foot reached the floor. The weak side of me mentally cheered him on but he didn't move. He stood like a tree that wasn't very sure of the power of its roots. Eventually, after I made no attempt to say anything, he sighed and the defeat was audible enough to cut right through me.

'I hope you do.' He said quietly, 'I hope you do feel better.'

I kept my expression intact all the way till the door closed behind him. When it was safe, I buried my face into my pillow, unable to keep the self pity at bay. My mission was off to a promising start. All it needed was a push. That would come tomorrow.

Even if it killed me in the process.

* * *

**A/N: I tried not to make this chapter too 'twilighty' but I've read this so many times that I've lost all perspective on it. Do review and tell me how you felt about it.**


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N: Piper has got to be the most difficult person to write. I don't know how Rick does it.**

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**12) It's Only Words.**

**Piper.**

Of all the people I expected to meet at eight o' clock in the morning in the conference room, Annabeth Chase was not one of them. I'd expected her to be curled up in the infirmary asleep. Or at the very most, sipping juice and debating the effects of a head injury with Katie and the others.

But there she was; two chairs down from Leo, Hazel and Liam, looking remarkably confident for someone who'd had a brush with death a little more than twelve hours ago.

Six seats away, on the other side of the round table were Bobby and Dakota, busily occupied with a pack of Pokemon cards. In front of them lay an empty plate, a few telling crumbs still visible.

My stomach rumbled in response. I'd had great plans for arriving early and snagging a proper breakfast but clearly the Roman boys had beaten me to it.

Not knowing what else to do, and determined to ignore my hunger till a proper opportunity presented itself, I fell into the chair behind Annabeth. Other than her pale complexion she didn't look too bad but that didn't stop me from worrying.

'What are you _doing _here?'

Annabeth raised her eyebrows. 'Good morning Piper. Nice to see you too, Piper.'

I waved aside her sarcasm, only slightly intimidated by it. 'You're supposed to be _resting._'

Annabeth's mouth turned down slightly, reminding me that she hated it when people viewed her as weak. I couldn't help it though; I'd been there whenMax and Will had struggled to bring her back and the sight of them kickstarting her heart was something I was never going to forget.

And though she wasn't wearing the head bandages, there was an intrinsic fragility to her, as though the time she'd spent knocked out had damaged her in some fatal way.

'I'm fine.' Annabeth said at last, 'my head is healed and my chest doesn't hurt.' She paused, daring me to argue, before continuing. 'Besides this meeting Jason called is for officers and members of the prophecy. Seeing as I'm _both, _I really don't think I should miss it.'

I sighed and leaned back in my chair, giving in. 'Jason's going to have a fit when he arrives.'

Annabeth didn't look overly concerned at the thought of Jason finding her out of the infirmary. In fact, her grey eyes were focused on the far side of the room, clearly far more invested in something else.

'Who told you about the meeting anyway?' I asked, more out of the need to have a conversation than anything else. Between Liam, Hazel and Leo who were roaring with laughter and Bobby and Dakota who were bickering over the attack power of Magikarp, I was feeling pretty left out. Everyone had found their little circles and were doing just fine without inviting me to join them.

'Liam.' Annabeth said, reminding me that I'd wanted an answer to my question.

I let my eyes travel to the man in question and I had to fight back the sudden urge to bonk him over the head with the hilt of my dagger. What had he been _thinking? _Informing Annabeth about something like this? He might as well have waved a red flag saying "duty calls" in front of her face. No matter what she said—she was_ still_ injured. How could he have been so blind to that?

Liam glanced up –probably sensing the weight of my annoyed gaze– and his mouth curled. I scowled in response but he'd already looked away. Three days we'd been on the ship, our cabins opposite each other, but not once had the son of Demeter and I said anything to each other.

It's not like I had any wish to speak to him, but he probably avoided me because he thought I was weak and that_ made_ me want to show him otherwise.

'D'you know what the meeting is about?' Annabeth asked, drawing me away from my thoughts.

With difficulty, I focused on my friend. 'Not really. Jason just said that it was important and we had to attend.'

I decided not to add that when I'd spoken to Jason he'd said all of three sentences to me before rushing off somewhere else. If anyone knew Jason Grace's thinking process these days, it definitely wasn't me.

Annabeth didn't look satisfied by my answer but before she could cross examine me, the door opened and Frank, Anthony Webber and Nyssa entered together.

It was obvious they'd only arrived at the door on the same time because as soon as they were in, they separated—Webber going off to sit by himself, some distance away from me, Nyssa joining Leo, and Frank slipping into a seat beside Bobby.

I caught the pained glance Frank sent Hazel before turning away resolutely and I felt a spurt of sympathy for him.

_You and me both, Frank. _I wanted to say, except we weren't really friends and he was sitting too far away. _You and me both. _

Shifting away I caught the edge of Anthony Webber's gaze. His eyes held mine for a moment before they dropped down; examining the tips of his fingers as though they were the most interesting thing in the world. I pursed my lips and turned back to Annabeth who was speaking, oblivious to the fact that I wasn't paying attention.

'...you'd think he'd be on time.'

I gathered that she was referring to Jason and his tardiness. While I didn't know what was keeping Jason, I had a fair idea of what he'd been dealing with over the past day.

'Jason's probably breaking up a fight somewhere.'

Annabeth followed my gaze to the three Romans sitting across us. 'Are things really that bad?'

I sighed, remembering the scuffle between Sherman and Eric which I'd unfortunately witnessed.

'There's a lot of... blame carrying around. Each side is convinced that the other didn't do enough against the Sea Monster.' I paused, watching Frank dart little glances to Hazel when her attention was captured elsewhere. Something about the dim hope in his eyes made me feel horrible.

Did I also do the same when Jason's attention was occupied elsewhere?

Taking a deep breath, I continued, 'and we've been cooped up long enough. People get on each other's nerves. It happens.'

Annabeth's grey eyes were a little too calculating as they examined me. Feeling exposed, I jumped to change the topic.

'Why does it matter anyway? He'll get here when he gets here.'

The tactic work. Annabeth straightened in her chair, her movements restlessness. Her fingers hovered around the belt of her jeans where her dagger was tucked away. I wondered who'd given it back to her; I hadn't seen it since she'd used it to stab the Sea Monster's tail.

'I have more important things to do,' she replied, 'than sit here all day.'

Knowing better than to ask _what things, _I took the opportunity to slide in another, more serious, question.

'Are you _sure_ you're okay?'

Annabeth' fingers stilled over the hilt of her dagger. Her eyes found mine and defiance gleamed bright in them.

'I'm fine.'

'I know,' I said in a rush, praying that she wouldn't shut me out like she had so many others, 'I'm just worried. You got injured—really badly injured and even in Camp you were—'

'I said I'm _fine, _Piper.' Annabeth's tone broke no arguments.

I subsided immediately, telling myself not to feel hurt by her attitude. Annabeth and I were friends, of course we were. Whatever she was going through –and I had no doubt that she _was_ going through some sort of ordeal–it was my duty to support her. That was what a good friend did.

'I just want you to know,' I looked down at the table trying to find the words to communicate my concern, 'I'm there. If you want to talk. Or even if you don't. Either way, I'm a really good listener—'

'Piper.' Annabeth sighed, her tone more weary than annoyed, 'I know. And thank you, but really; I'm fine.'

She was lying, I knew it. She probably knew that I knew that she was lying. The brave part of me wanted to pursue the matter. Ever since Camp, the feeling that Annabeth was getting in way over her head, was only growing stronger inside me. But how do you help someone when they don't want it?

The door opened for the second time, distracting me from the problem. Max Keenan and Jason walked in together, in the process of finishing up a conversation. With their arrival, it meant we were only waiting for Percy to join us.

Max took the chair next to Webber and Jason caught my eye, only for a brief second, before looking away.

The hurt I'd felt at Annabeth's denial was nothing compared to the well of bitterness that rose at Jason's indifference.

'What the...?' Jason ground to a halt as he caught sight of who was sitting next to me, 'you're supposed to be in the infirmary!'

The entire room fell silent at his outburst and the heads swivelled around to gauge Annabeth's reaction. Liam and Webber, I noticed, seemed particularly interested.

'I don't know why I've to keep saying this,' Annabeth muttered, 'but I'm a member of the prophecy and an officer of this ship—I decided it was important for me to be here.'

Jason's mouth opened and shut, without any words coming out. His outrage was so extreme that it was almost comical. '_You_ don't get to decide anything till you're healed!' He gripped the table with one hand, trying to work with himself to be more patient.

When Annabeth didn't reply, Jason took a moment and continued in a gentler tone.

'Annabeth, rushing things won't help. I could have filled you in about this if you ...' Jason trailed off, narrowing his eyes, 'who told you about the meeting?'

The stillness that fell over the room was profound. Leo's eyes flitted to Liam at once but Annabeth didn't react in anyway. It was obvious she wasn't going to give up the name. I didn't know if she was trying to protect Liam or simply repay Jason for his comments, but whatever her reasons, it made Jason increasingly frustrated. The shadows underneath his eyes were marks of a sleepless night and this impasse was just making things worse.

The seconds ticked by and I couldn't take it any longer.

'Liam told her.' I said, shooting Annabeth an apologetic glance since I had no wish to face the business end of her dagger. 'He let it slip by mistake.' I added, when I saw the flash of anger in Jason's eyes.

Another heavy silence followed my words. Jason's hand stayed clenched around the table and I had a strong feeling he was trying his best not to punch Liam in the face. Most people would think it was a stupid thing to get angry over –Annabeth would have most likely found out some other way if Liam hadn't said anything– but I knew Jason Grace, and getting shown up _twice _by the same person within twenty four hours, was really pushing the limits of his tolerance.

Oh, and plus he hated Liam.

The air prickled, alerting me to the extent of Jason's anger. I wondered how badly his day must have begun (had there been another fight?) for him to be losing control so fast. I wanted to reach for him –my touch had worked to calm him down before– but he was too far away.

The door opened, startling the lot of us. Percy entered, shaking water droplets from his hair, entirely oblivious to the tension in the room.

'Checked the bow again,' he announced to no one in particular, crossing the room to find a seat, 'no leaks as far as I can see. I don't think...'

He trailed off, when he caught sight of Annabeth who'd gone a little rigid next to me. Percy blinked and looked to Jason for an explanation, thereby unknowingly diffusing the earlier argument.

'Ah.' Jason cleared his throat, shooting Liam one last glare, 'Annabeth, um, decided to join us.'

I was watching Annabeth –how was she going to fend off her boyfriend's concern as she did mine?– and so missed Percy's reaction. I didn't miss his voice though.

'Okay.' He said, in a tone so utterly reasonable that it practically shouted of being forced, 'then let's get this started, shall we?'

I gaped at Percy but he showed no sign of anything out of the ordinary. His green eyes were bright and well rested. His lips were curved in a pleasant, if slightly polite, smile. It was ironic that all of these were indicators of how bad a place their relationship was at. He wasn't showing any unease over Annabeth's presence and it meant that either he was okay with it (which he wasn't, because he, like me, knew something was up with her) or that he was past the point of caring.

I wanted to put my head into my hands. Three days on a ship and _everything _was unravelling.

After a moment's hesitation, Jason eventually sat down. I caught Liam's exaggerated sigh, as though he'd excited for the fight and was now disappointed it hadn't happened.

Resisting the urge to bonk him on the head again, I turned my attention to Jason.

'Right.' Jason said after a couple of moments of awkward silence, 'you guys are probably wondering why I—' he looked at Percy and changed tack, '_we_ called you here.'

I wanted to point out that Percy probably couldn't have cared less at the inclusion, but I had no one to say it to. Annabeth was the only one in whisper distance and she didn't look very receptive.

'There are two important matters which we need to talk about,' Jason's tone grew more confident as he talked, 'the first one is about... information.'

His words couldn't have been more cryptic. Judging by everyone's expressions, I wasn't the only one who was lost.

'Information?' Max Keenan repeated, 'what do you mean?'

Jason smiled, but it was more grim than happy. 'We're going on a blind quest,' he said as in the same tone as one might remark about the weather, 'we don't have a prophecy to guide us—we don't have _information _on the enemy.'

Annabeth shifted next to me, but my attention was focused on Webber. His mouth was pursed, the very picture of thoughtfulness.

'We could contact Octavian,' Webber offered, 'he could ask the fates about what lies ahead of us.'

I heard Leo's stifled cough and knew at once that we were both thinking the same thing: there was no way that the little stuff toy murderer could have an accurate prediction. I suddenly wished we could have brought Rachel along. Nothing like having an all-seeing Oracle to clear up the cobwebs, even if her sight was murkier than usual.

'As _much_ as I would like to ask for Octavian's help,' Jason's tone was too bland to read anything into, 'he's not at Camp Jupiter. We have no way of contacting him.'

'_What?_' Anthony appeared flabbergasted, 'Octavian would never... he wouldn't just leave! You're mistaken!'

Jason raised his eyebrows at the declaration. 'Do you not trust the word of your Captain?'

Webber didn't reply. This was the most upset I'd seen him—far more than when he'd heard that Liam wasn't getting punished for his negligence on that Bridge.

'Apparently not.' Jason sighed. 'We Iris Messaged the Camp in the morning. Reyna informed me that Octavian's been AWOL for three days now.'

Murmurs broke out along the table but the only thing I could focus on was that Jason had talked to Reyna _only a few hours ago. _What else had they spoken of besides Octavian's absence? Had Jason confessed his true and undying love for her? Had Reyna told him she'd changed her mind and wanted to join the quest so that she wouldn't be have to be away from him?

_Stop it Piper McLean! _I told myself sternly, _what he and Reyna said to each other isn't any of your concern. _

My priorities definitely needed some working on. I was on a voyage to the battle that would decide the fate of the world and here I was pining over some boy like a lovesick teenager. I needed to take a leaf out of Annabeth's book—even after being on the verge of death; she was completely focused on what was expected of her.

_Except that she's hiding something, _my brain reminded me, _and she's hurting people in the process. _

I tuned back into the conversation to stop the internal debate.

'...shutting down communication lines, is the first move of a war,' Jason was saying, 'and Gaia's already done that. But she _can't _stop us from getting the information on our own.'

Leo raised a hand. 'Just _how_ are we supposed to find out what she's up to on our own?'

'Dreams.' Jason answered with an enigmatic smile. 'Our dreams will tell us everything we need to know.'

The answering silence may not have been what Jason was expecting. It was hard to tell, he looked more like a teacher explaining a complicated concept to his class than a man announcing he was the messiah.

Dakota was the first to respond. 'I dunno, Cap'n, dreams aren't very... reliable. They show us what we don't want to see. They play to our fears more often than not.'

It was very easy to dismiss Dakota because of his Kool-Aid addiction and stained mouth, but it was times like this that made me realize exactly why Jason had chosen him to be an officer.

'You're right.' Jason said, 'but we can't pick and choose, can we?'

Leo drummed his fingers on the table, 'so... what does this mean exactly? We report in our dreams? Like, oh yesterday I dreamt Santa stole my Christmas candy, please advise?'

I grinned and even Frank managed to crack a smile. Annabeth looked torn, as though she couldn't quite decide to smirk or tell Leo to work on his jokes. Out of the lot of us, only Webber seemed unaffected. Then again, he probably hadn't gotten over the shock of Octavian upping and leaving without a calling card.

'Not quite.' Jason's tone was amused, 'but yes, reporting in dreams, _significant _dreams, will help. If we can coordinate with the crew, we might get a clear picture of what Gaia is up to.'

Leo pretended to be hurt. 'Santa stealing my candy is significant!'

'Honestly Leo I'm more concerned about who gave you the candy in the first place.' I said dryly, amidst the laughter.

Leo grinned and reached into his tool-belt, pulling out a familiar looking green and white wrapper which he then tossed to me. 'Ask and ye shall receive.'

I caught the breath mint and rolled my eyes.

'The point _being,_' Jason said, shaking his head at Leo's wide smile, 'that Gaia isn't _expecting _us to be prepared. This is a chance to throw her off. We need to take it.'

It was a very "seize the day" kind of speech but none of could argue with the heart of it. Any advantage we had, however slim and uncertain, had to be picked up on. We were outnumbered severely enough without adding to our troubles.

'It's a good plan.' Annabeth said, putting our thoughts into words. 'Inefficient, but good.'

Jason waited, wondering like the rest of us if Annabeth would quantify the statement into a compliment or a complaint, but when she did neither he pushed on.

'For this to work—and I _really _hope it does, I'm asking you guys to spread the message through the crew.' Jason turned his gaze to Liam, 'and by asking I mean ordering.'

Liam flicked invisible dust off his jacket. 'I'd be happy to help in any way I can, _captain._' He paused and then added, 'but I'm only the messenger. The recognition for such an outstanding idea belongs only to you.'

No one missed the underlying sneer in Liam's words, especially not Jason. To my surprise however, Jason's smile only got wider—as though he'd been waiting for an opportunity to show his cards.

'I'm happy to hear that.' He smirked, 'happier still when I can report a success.'

Despite Liam's best efforts to maintain his mask, I saw the flicker of confusion as he got caught off guard. 'Success?'

There was no doubt it, Jason was practically radiating his triumph to all corners of the room. I felt an unreasonable (and slightly unjustified) burst of happiness for him; he was finally learning to deal with Liam without losing his temper. Granted Jason shouldn't have been so prickly in the first place, but progress was progress, right?

'Hazel,' he spread his hands like a director positioning his actors, 'do me a favour and fill them in.'

Hazel squirmed in her seat as the attention of the room shifted to her.

'I had a dream,' she said, 'or _vision _would be the correct word, I guess. I think I might know where Gaia's keeping Nico. She showed me this place... it was like a scene, but if I see it again I'll be able to recognize it.'

Annabeth frowned, 'Gaia _showed _you where Nico is? That doesn't make sense.'

I shot Annabeth a quick "lay off Hazel" look. It wasn't Hazel's fault if Gaia was being confusing. Who could predict the Earth Mother's behaviour? I, for one, believed that all that sleeping had made her a little soft in the head.

Hazel flushed at Annabeth's tone. 'I don't know why Gaia did it—but she did say she wanted us meet Nico's guest.'

At the last word, everyone's expressions turned grimmer. It was obvious that Nico wasn't playing host to this "guest" voluntarily, which meant that we were in for a rough ride when we got close enough to rescue him.

'About this scene,' Bobby asked, 'can you describe it? Maybe one of us has seen something similar?'

Hazel closed her eyes. 'There was a beach. And grass. Lots of it.' She inhaled sharply, 'beyond that was a hill... or was it a mountain?' Hazel opened her eyes, looking troubled.

'I got the sense that something evil was there. I could _feel _it.'

'Probably the mysterious guest.' Liam said, adding to the uneasy silence.

Leo, Jason and I exchanged glances and once again I knew we were thinking about the same thing: Mount Diablo and the Wolf House. Wherever Gaia had the strongest influence –usually in the form of a dedicated servant– our demigod instincts picked up on it and warned us away. I was beginning to get a pretty good idea of who this "guest" was going to be.

'Hold on a sec,' Percy sat up in his chair, 'did you say _mountain_?'

Hazel looked taken aback at the excitement in Percy's tone. 'Either a mountain or a hill,' she nodded, 'I was too far away to judge the size correctly. Why do you ask?'

Percy smacked a hand against his forehead. 'I'm such an idiot.'

'Why?' Hazel asked, beating the rest of us to it.

'Because I saw Nico as well!'

An astonished silence followed his words, broken by nearly all of us throwing questions at him in the same moment. Percy held up his hands, telling us to shut up so that he could get a word in.

'I'd forgotten about the dream,' he said in response to Jason who was insisting on knowing why this piece of information had only just been revealed, 'too many things have been happening, and I, well, forgot.'

'How did Nico look?' Hazel asked eagerly, 'is he okay? Did you speak to him?'

'He's...' Percy hesitated at Hazel's hopeful expression, 'I think he's alive. But, no, I didn't talk to him. He, uh, didn't look too good.'

'What's wrong with him?' Frank demanded.

Percy shrugged helplessly. 'I don't know. There were these chains around him and—'

'Chains?' Annabeth interrupted, 'what kind? Describe them.'

I noticed how though she made eye contact with Percy; there was no warmth in her gaze. Even her tone bordered more on hostile than inquisitive. If Percy picked up on it, he didn't say anything, choosing to focus entirely on the answer.

'Thick chains,' he spread his hands apart about half a foot, 'and they were scary. Terrifying.' Percy added after a moment, his expression serious.

Annabeth shifted in her seat. 'They were made of metal, right?'

Percy's eyes narrowed. 'Yeah, how'd you know?'

I watched the brief play of emotions across Annabeth's unusually expressive face. The foremost that could be made out, was fear. The others were less identifiable.

'I've been in them.' Annabeth said finally, 'in the Underworld. When I... met Gaia.'

I made sure to hold in my wince. There was no use overdoing the concern and getting ignored completely, or worse, getting told off.

Hazel turned to Annabeth. 'These chains... what do they mean for Nico? How long do we have before he...?'

The word _dies _didn't need to be said out loud. Judging by Hazel's fearful expression she was expecting the worst. Annabeth didn't look too optimistic either.

'I'm not sure,' she admitted. 'Nico's unbelievably resilient, but I really don't know.'

Leo put an arm around Hazel to comfort her, earning himself another pained glance from Frank. I don't think Leo noticed though, he was too busy reassuring Hazel that the handkerchief he'd fished out did not have oil stains on it and that black the natural colour.

Jason cleared his throat, gesturing to Percy. 'You showed interest for the word "mountain." Why?'

'Oh yeah.' Percy nodded, 'I remembered thinking that Nico's prison looked underground. But it also makes sense if he's _inside _the mountain—the one which Hazel saw.'

'Was there anything to identify it?' Hazel asked, handing Leo back the handkerchief, 'like a signboard or something?'

Percy shook his head. 'Not really. It was too dark to see much. Even the dirt was black.'

'Black?' Hazel echoed, eyes shining, 'like volcanic ash?'

'Maybe?' Percy posed the word as a question. 'I could be wrong—'

But Hazel was already talking over him, enthusiasm making the words tumble out faster. 'I saw the ash! If the mountain is a volcano doesn't it increase our chances of finding him? How many volcanoes are there in Italy?'

All heads turned simultaneously to Annabeth—even Webber's. He might have been a full-blooded Roman, but everyone deferred to Annabeth when it came to hard facts.

'More than a dozen.' She said after a moment, 'but there's only one active one as far as I know. Mount Vesuvius.'

'That must be it!' Hazel exclaimed. She turned to Leo and Nyssa, 'you need to plot a course to it right away!'

'Hold on, hold on a second!' Jason waved his hands, stopping the discussion which had erupted. He turned to Annabeth, confusion covering his face. 'I thought the Doors of Death, and Nico, would both be in Rome? What happened to that theory?'

Annabeth drummed her fingers on the table, looking thoughtful. 'That depends on what the definition of _Rome _is. In modern times it's one city, but if you look at it from a historical perspective, it pretty much covers half the continent—including Mount Vesuvius.'

What Jason wanted to say in response to that got drowned out by Webber's exclamation.

'_Stop saying that name!_'

I glanced at Webber, mildly surprised by how upset he looked. His usual impassive mask had fallen away and his expression reminded me of someone who'd just sat on a hedgehog. Pained and uncomfortable at the same time.

'Anthony?' Jason raised his eyebrows, 'is there a problem?'

Webber didn't reply, but I noticed him clenching and unclenching his hands on the edge of the table. He refused to meet any of our gazes and it was clear he felt embarrassed about his outburst.

Jason exchanged a look with Percy, who shrugged, equally baffled. 'Anthony, if you know something, you need to tell us.'

Liam's amused voice from the other end of the table broke the silence. 'I'm surprised you don't know why he's so annoyed, Grace. Aren't Romans supposed to be well versed in their history?'

Jason scowled, 'what are you talking about?'

'Mount Vesuvius,' Liam said the name in relish, taking his time now that he had the opportunity to get under Jason's skin again, 'isn't just _any _volcano. It—'

'—destroyed the cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum when it erupted.' Annabeth finished, her tone a little awed. 'Of course. Now it makes sense why Gaia's chosen it.'

'We shouldn't go to it.' Webber muttered, 'the eruption was a dark day for the Roman Empire.'

Liam snorted, 'please. The Hunnic invasion was a dark time for the Roman Empire. Vesuvius is a volcano.'

'I meant literally.' Webber said through gritted teeth, 'the ash cloud was horrific. Evil lurks in that mountain.'

'Yeah, we established that already.' Liam rolled his eyes. I, however, couldn't help but feel uncomfortable. "Evil" had been mentioned twice now in the conversation and the more I thought about Mount Vesuvius, the more bits and pieces of its history I remembered. And none of them were very encouraging.

Annabeth caught my eye, and shook her head slightly, telling me not to say anything. I wanted to protest, but she usually had excellent reasons for her decisions, so I stayed silent.

'So... I plot a course for it then?' Leo asked, glancing at Jason.

Jason hesitated, but Hazel's wide eyed stare had him crumbling. 'I suppose. I mean it's the only lead we have... unless we get a different indication, it makes sense to pursue it.'

'More like "dream up a different indication."' Liam said in a snide voice, but everyone was smart enough to let it go. We had some concrete evidence backing up our theories; even Liam's cynical view of things wasn't enough to get us down.

Jason took a deep breath. 'Anyway, there's just one other thing we need to talk about and then you guys are free for breakfast.'

It was probably my imagination but I heard a collective rumbling from around the table as all the stomachs in the room protested. Dakota at least looked as though he was considering eating the plate in front of him.

'In light of yesterday's events,' Jason said, 'Percy and I have decided to try something new with the crew.'

I glanced at Percy and didn't miss his resigned expression. Once again I had no doubt that he hadn't been a part of this decision making process and had simply been pulled along for the ride.

'We're going to play a game.' Jason announced, 'and hopefully it's going to lessen the general feeling of animosity.'

I blinked, wondering if my hunger was affecting my hearing.

Leo leaned forward in his chair. 'I'm sorry; did you just say that we're going to play a _game_?'

Huh, apparently my hearing was just fine.

Jason took in our shocked expressions but didn't back down. 'Yes,' he said with determination, 'and it's going to be _fun_. And constructive. And you guys are going to enjoy yourselves thoroughly.'

Which pretty much told us that this game was going to be the worst idea Jason had ever come up with. I shot Percy a pleading glance but he'd crossed his arms and leaned away; a clear signal that he'd tried and failed to change Jason's mind.

'So... what kind of game is it exactly?' Dakota asked, in a tone of forced cheerfulness.

Jason grinned, 'I can't tell you guys yet. But report to the main deck at eleven and you'll see for yourself.'

'Yeah about _that,_' Nyssa managed to react the fastest, 'I'll actually be on Watch so...'

'No matter.' Jason waved an airy hand, 'you'll still be able to play.'

Annabeth cleared her throat, 'you know, I'm not feeling so good—'

'Oh no!' Jason shook his head, 'if you're well enough to come for this meeting, you're well enough to play the game.'

'But—'

'No arguments.' Jason said sending a "cross-me-at-your-own-peril" look down each side of the table. 'Attendance is compulsory.' He rolled his eyes at our loud groans and added, 'c'mon guys, this is going to be fun!'

I glanced around the table, finding it terribly ironic that for once all of us were in complete agreement: there was no way this game was going to be fun.

* * *

After breakfast I retreated to one of my favourite spots on the entire ship, thinking it wise to let Annabeth nap in our shared cabin. She'd refused point blank to return to the infirmary and since I was in the mood to catch some sun anyway, it made sense to stay out of her way. Jason's refusal to let her sit out the game had made her pretty irritable.

The spot I chose was a little corner of extra space which Leo had built so that he could install some solar panels. It was a perfect mix of shade and sunlight and though I'd brought a book up with me to read, I found myself neglecting it to enjoy the scenery.

The ocean sparkled in the sunlight, looking deceptively peaceful. A constant breeze blew, keeping me from getting roasted. Twice I caught sight of dolphins but they didn't stay for very long, preferring to head up to the bow of the ship, where I was pretty sure they'd stay alongside for the next hour or so.

I wondered if Percy would have a conversation with them.

The view made me long for my dad—he would have been thrilled to be on a ship like the _Argo II_. So many things for him to learn about; so many things for him to get excited over. So many experiences we could have shared.

Too bad the ship was destined for a higher purpose.

Sighing, I leaned back and made a mental note to email him as soon as the Comm. tower, which the Sea Monster had all but destroyed with its tail, got fixed. Something short and snappy would make my dad's day and wouldn't get him worrying.

I took in a lungful of air and nearly choked when smoke filled my lungs.

'What the...?'

Standing next to the opposite railing, and thus upwind of me, was Liam, cigarette hanging from his mouth. I hadn't heard him arrive, but it irked me to know that he'd seen me and still chosen to play with his stick of burning death without any regard for my sensibilities.

'Do you mind?' I coughed extra loud for effect, 'I'm trying to read here.'

Liam blew out a stream of smoke. 'No one's stopping you from moving.'

I gritted my teeth. 'I was here first.'

'And I outrank you.' He retorted, still not bothering to look at me as he sent smoke my way.

For one moment I was very tempted to leave, but pride held me in place. Liam got his way far too much on the _Argo II_. I wasn't going to allow him to push me over. Besides, how in the world had he found this place anyway? It was like he'd arrived to annoy me.

'Do you have problem with me?' I asked, unable to let go of the idea.

Liam didn't reply.

'I mean, I think you do.' I tried to find reasons to support my theory and failed within seconds. 'But I'm not a Roman, so it's not like you have conditioned excuse.'

Liam flicked ash off the railing, and turned to me. 'You're mom's Aphrodite, isn't she?'

Thrown by the change in topic, I answered on instinct. 'Yes.'

'Figures,' Liam sighed, 'only her children can be so self-absorbed.'

Never before had I been struck by such a strong urge to push someone overboard. Now I understood what Jason had to put with in every conversation he had with the Liam. It was impossible to be reasonable with him.

'I mean, I can't blame you,' Liam continued, either oblivious to my stony silence or ignoring it, 'with a parent like her, what else do you expect?'

For some reason the word "parent" jolted me. 'You have _no _idea—'

'Oh but I do.' He cut in, his tone smooth. For the first time in the entire conversation, Liam looked right at me. There was something downright scary about his gaze and I remembered, none too fondly, that this man was very good with his swords, and provoking him was probably a terrible idea.

'I _do _have an idea about Aphrodite.' Liam pulled at his cigarette, his eyes staying fixed to mine, 'I met her, you know. Once. It was some time ago but...' his mouth twisted into a grim smile, 'you never _forget_ an encounter with the goddess of love.'

My hand closed around the hilt of my Katoptris. I couldn't take Liam in a fight, but I could do _some _damage if things turned ugly.

Liam didn't notice the move. 'When I met her, I was in awe of her. _Aphrodite _coming to meet _me. _What an honour, right? Such glory for me!' His jaw clenched, and his eyes bore into mine, 'right?'

I stared back, transfixed by the depth of emotion on Liam's face. There was so much anger, so much _pain, _that it seemed inconceivable he could ever smile again.

'_Wrong_.' Liam muttered viciously, squashing the tip of his burning cigarette into his hand and tossing it over the edge. 'She had no honour. And I,' he clenched his palm around the burnt flesh, 'I had no glory.'

I couldn't seem to look away. Suddenly, so many things made complete sense.

'She took away something from you.' I wanted to kick myself for not having seen it earlier, 'she took away someone you...loved.'

A shadow crossed over Liam's face and he looked away. Most of my instincts told me to say something along the lines of "I'm sorry" but recent behaviour suggested that Liam would probably draw his swords and cut me open if I even started saying the word.

'Love is an illusion.' He said quietly, 'I learned that lesson the hard way.' Liam glanced up, his expressionless mask back in place, 'you would do well to learn it too.'

I didn't know what to say. Part of me pitied him, but the other, larger part of me stayed aloof. Everyone faced tragedy in life—demigods more so than others. Letting it define us was a rookie mistake.

'I think you're wrong.' I told kept a wary eye on his hands in case he took the disagreement to another level.

Liam snorted, all previous traces of anger and pain gone. 'Then you're an idiot. I would think that you, _especially _you, would understand the significance.'

'What are you—?'

'Jason Grace.' Liam announced with an annoying air of self importance, 'isn't he the current object of your affections?'

My cheeks flamed. 'That's none of your business.'

'It isn't,' Liam agreed, fishing out another cigarette from the pack in his pocket. 'But for the life of me,' he spun open the top of a silver lighter, 'I cannot understand why you would possibly choose him.'

'Luckily,' I forced the words through gritted teeth, 'you don't _need _to understand anything.'

Liam gave no sign of hearing me. 'Grace is arrogant. He possesses a superiority complex. _Everything _has to go his way—and if it doesn't, it's a sin.'

'You're one to talk!' I tried to control my temper, but Liam's words were striking a sore point within me: they were the exact things I didn't like about Jason either.

A smirk danced across Liam's face, as though he knew exactly what I was thinking. 'Have you ever wondered _why _you like Grace? I personally think he's an ass.'

I opened my mouth, a half formed retort ready, when I realized that I too had thought Jason to be an ass several times. He was difficult, and blinkered, and incredibly _dense _sometimes, but he was also loyal and brave and he shouldered the burden of responsibility unflinchingly. The same couldn't be said for everyone.

'Jason Grace is ten times the man you could ever be.' I said, without hesitation.

Liam hesitated for a moment, blue eyes widening in surprise, but he got it together quickly enough. Affecting a huge sigh, he said, 'it's sad to see all that admiration wasted on Grace. He doesn't seem to care the same way about you.'

I felt like I'd been stabbed in the chest.

'Trust me when I say this Piper, love _is _an illusion. What you feel is nothing but your mother's whims.'

I tried not to wonder if Aphrodite's words about seeing the possibilities were just a way of appeasing me. 'You're wrong.'

'Am I?' Liam challenged, 'look at poor Helen of Troy. She didn't _want _to love Paris, but she didn't have a choice. Aphrodite wished it and so it happened and thousands of men died before Helen came home.'

All of a sudden I could feel the pressure of Katoptris under my palm and Annabeth's far away voice telling me of the initial difficulties in her and Percy's relationship. _Aphrodite had a lot of fun with us, _she'd said wryly.

'Want another example?' Liam pressed, 'look at what she did to Helios. Made him fall in love with a mortal and then watch as she was buried alive.'

'Stop it!' My free hand curled into a fist, 'just stop! You're bitter because someone you fell in love with didn't love you back. It had nothing to do with my mother—or me!'

A long silence followed my words, unbroken, except for the low hum of the _Argo II's _engines. I felt as though the surrounding beauty was mocking me. My mother had no concept boundaries for her favoured ones –in fact her favoured ones usually died horrible and painful deaths– but was she cruel enough to manipulate my feelings?

'You're right about one thing though,' Liam said, putting his second cigarette out, this time against the railing, 'I _do _hate you.' His sharp gaze was at odds with the derisive smile on his lips, 'but maybe that's just your mom messing with me. Who knows?'

And with that delightful remark, he left, leaving his earlier words to pollute my air instead of the smoke.

* * *

By five to eleven, I'd run a repeat of Liam's words so many times in my head that I was quite ready to throw myself off the ship, just to stop my brain from dissecting everything. The crowd on the main deck didn't help—in fact watching Leo and Hazel giggle at each other, made me want to grasp both of them by the ear and yell at them for being so insensitive to Frank's feelings.

That, of course, only brought me back to my mother and her penchant for drama. _If _she was manipulating all of our feelings, then I had no doubt she was having the time of her life. Between the Frank-Leo-Hazel triangle, Percy and Annabeth's falling out and Jason's inability to even look me in the eye, we were a stack of dry wood just waiting for a lit match. And once the match was thrown, oh, what a bonfire we'd make.

I leaned against the reconstructed starboard railing and watched the white capped waves of the ocean. Sadly, there was no sign of any dolphins.

'Hey.' Annabeth's voice preceded her presence as she joined my side, 'you look pensive.'

I made an effort to loosen my hold on the polished wood. 'Just thinking. You know, the usual.'

By Annabeth's expression, I gathered she did not know what the usual was. I couldn't really blame her. What usual things did demigods think about when their life was big tragic joke?

_Oh gods, _I rubbed my temples, _I'm driving myself insane with all the whining. _

'Oh great,' Annabeth muttered, 'Jason's arrived. This should be fun.'

I turned around, hoping to figure out Jason's game from the equipment he held in his hands. Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be stacks of paper and a bunch of pencils, both of which he handed over to Dakota who was standing next to him.

I took a quick survey of the deck and found that everyone except for those on Watch, and Percy, had turned up. Most of them expressed a mix of annoyance and boredom, though a few, like the Stoll brothers, seemed visibly excited.

'Gather around everyone!' Jason waved his hands, beckoning to the rest of us. 'Form a circle around me—a _circle _Travis, you know what shape that is right?'

Amidst much grumbling, a circle formed. I had Annabeth on my left and Pollux on my right. Directly opposite were the Stolls and Katie and I had to fight back a grin as she told them off for being annoying. The Romans on her right didn't look as pleased.

Jason clapped his hands, ending the discussion. 'Great. Okay, we'll start right after we go through the rules.' He gestured to Dakota, who began handing out the paper and pencils to everyone down the line.

Pollux passed me mine. 'D'you have any idea what this is about?'

'None whatsoever.' I answered, giving Annabeth her sheet and lead stub.

'Brilliant.' Pollux grumbled, 'I was hoping to sleep but apparently this game is more important.'

I didn't say anything, studying my sheet with feigned interest. After a couple of seconds, it turned into real interest. There were two columns on the page: the names of all forty members of the crew on the left, with a corresponding blank space on the right.

'Anybody doesn't have one of these?' Jason held up a sheet and pencil, eliciting half-hearted responses from the people without them.

I glanced up and found Percy standing on the little platform outside the Bridge, looking over the rest of us. It wasn't a very safe place to stand –since the rest of the supports had all been broken– but when you had the Curse of Achilles, lots of things became tame.

'All right!' Jason exclaimed, a wide grin on his face, 'let's start, shall we? If you've noticed, each of you possesses the names of the _Argo II's_ crew on your sheet of paper.'

A few murmurs followed, as people verified the statement. Once satisfied that everyone had taken a quick look, Jason continued.

'Next to each name is a blank space, which during the course of this game, you will fill up.'

I groaned silently, realizing at once what the object of the game was. To my left, Annabeth had the same expression and we exchanged a look of mutual resignation.

'The purpose of the game,' Jason said, 'is to find one quality you admire about each person and write it down and no,' he raised his voice as the protests started, 'you can't comment on people's appearances. It _has _to be about their personality.'

'Aw, c'mon!' Connor whined, 'can't people tell me I have great hair? Because I work really hard to make it shine. It's nice to be appreciated.'

Jason ignored him. 'After writing it down you will then _tell_ each person what you think of them, face-to-face.'

A collective groan rose from the ranks and next to me, Pollux muttered an expletive. I tried to imagine Pollux telling Matthew, one of the Romans he'd sparred with, how great he was, and grinned at the thought. This game wasn't going to be fun in the least, but now I looked forward to the awkward encounters that were going to take place.

'Don't even think about cheating.' Jason warned, once the noise had reduced enough. 'Percy will be watching closely and if we catch anyone not playing the game...' Jason paused, a decidedly satisfied look on his face, 'well, let's just say the deck doesn't look too clean to me.'

More groans followed, but by now, most of us and resigned ourselves to fate. It was obvious Jason had thought everything through and while I had little belief that he'd actually make any of us scrub the deck, it made sense to just go with the flow. How painful could it be, really?

'Okay guys,' Jason checked his watch, 'you have one hour! Let's play!'

* * *

I was wrong.

It was _extremely _painful.

Not so much as the writing part as the actual "going up to people and telling them how awesome they were" part. Some people I took almost no time in getting through; Leo and my brother Mitchell being two of them. For the others, I had difficulty saying the things I'd scribbled with a straight face: how did you tell Travis Stoll that he was an emotionally mature guy without going off into hoots of laughter?

The worst, however, was dealing with the Romans. Most of them I didn't even know by name (some girl was called Kaya. How had I not known that?) and I thus spent an inordinate amount of time trying to match face to name, than thinking up adjectives to describe someone.

Some parts_, _however, were quite fun.

Like the time Sherman and Eric had to shake each other's hands while reciting qualities they admired the most about each other, under Jason's watchful gaze.

Other parts were cute.

Like when Hank asked Jessica out, amidst much cheering. The sight of a blushing Jessica, coupled with an equally embarrassed Hank brought out a little happiness from my otherwise annoyed outlook.

Still others were downright tense.

Like the encounter between Leo and Frank which required both Annabeth and Hazel to referee so that it didn't descend into a fistfight. Both of the boys sulked for the rest of the game after that meeting.

It took me forty minutes of solid work for me to get through the rest of the crew. I even managed to toss Percy a few compliments which he accepted with a huge smile. The only person I refused to even try and communicate with was Liam. He and I had said enough to each other for the rest of eternity. Even standing next to him was a chore and I made sure to stay out of his way till I couldn't even find him in the mass of people anymore.

I straightened up from trying my shoelace when Annabeth approached me.

'Piper.' She announced in a bored tone, 'you are unusually perceptive. I admire that about you.'

I laughed, examining the paper she was holding. 'Gee thanks. But you haven't written it down, have you?'

'Nope. Drew a picture of a cat though.'

I appraised the beautiful artwork. 'That's pretty cool.'

Annabeth smiled, her eyes lighting up in brief happiness. 'Spent half an hour on it. What about you?'

I turned over my sheet rather shamefully. Why had I even bothered to play the game, when Jason obviously had no plans of checking up on me and I'd pretty much bribed Percy's silence with the "heart of a true hero" compliment?

'Interesting,' Annabeth scanned the page, 'you think I'm stubborn.'

'Well, you are!' I tried not to sound defensive, 'and that's a good thing. I wish my opinions didn't get swayed so easily.'

Annabeth wasn't paying attention. 'Oh you think Leo "approaches problems differently." That's good; I'm stealing that one.'

I swiped my sheet back before she could make more fun of me. As I watched, she whipped out a pencil and added some shades to the cat's whiskers, making it look far more real than I'd thought possible. Its mouth was open in a hiss, and its eyes were narrowed, giving the impression of being cute and dangerous.

'That really is awesome.' I couldn't help but feel jealous. Hazel had a talent for drawing stuff too, and once again, I felt left out.

Annabeth tilted her head. 'Isn't it? Fun fact: if you die alone next to a cat, it won't wait till your body's cold before it starts to eat you.'

I stared at her in shock. '... even a house pet?'

'Even a house pet.' Annabeth confirmed, and then took a step to her right, glancing off in the distance. 'Oh look there's Leo. See you.'

She left with a wave, leaving me more disturbed than ever. I leaned against the door leading off the main deck, taking in the people before me. Most of them were gathered in one big bunch in the centre, but several groups stayed separate. Katie and Travis, for example were tossing insults at each other, off to my right and diagonally to my left Jason, Matthew and Pollux were engaged in a heated discussion. I caught Leo roaring in laughter at Annabeth and Frank and Hazel sitting in a corner, clearly having a serious conversation. Once again, everyone had found a niche, leaving me out of it.

'...stop following me Greek!'

I nearly jumped out of my skin, ready to confront whoever deemed it necessary to be so angry at me, till a second later, another familiar voice spoke, making me realize I wasn't part of the conversation.

'We're going to have words, Webber. You and I have a discussion long overdue.'

I strained my ears as the first voice –definitely belonging to Anthony Webber– spoke again, from the other side of the door I was leaning against.

'I don't have anything to say to you!'

'Oh, but I do.' Liam's tone was smooth. 'See, I've been waiting for an opportunity to talk to you about the Sea Monster fiasco.'

The silence that followed pricked my neck. Something told me that this conversation I was overhearing (fine, eavesdropping on) was important, but at the same time, the very thought of listening to Liam talk made me want to throw up.

'What more is there to say? You won that round, Greek. Hank stays punished.' Webber paused for a moment, before adding, 'now get out of my away.'

There was an audible thump against the door and I moved aside, half expecting the Roman lieutenant to come bursting through. Several seconds passed, but nothing happened. Unsure of what I was doing, I went back to my original position.

'You aren't leaving just yet.' Liam's hiss sent shivers down my spine, 'there's still a matter of what I saw from the Bridge during the fight.'

'And what did you see?' Webber's tone was too steady to read anything into.

'The question is what I _didn't _see.' Liam retorted, 'for example, I _didn't _see you trying to stop Annabeth Chase from falling.'

My heart hammered to a stop and took off again, beating a mile a minute. I tried to fit the pieces of the conversation together but none of it made sense. What was going on?

Webber, evidently, thought the same. 'I don't know what you mean.'

'Oh please.' Liam's voice became louder, 'don't play games with me. You were right next to her when she fell. All you had to do was put a hand out... but you didn't and I have a pretty good reason to explain that.'

_What's the reason? _I silently willed Liam to expand but infuriatingly, he didn't respond. When I needed him to talk, the idiot refused to oblige. In the end, Webber came through for me.

'You think... you think I let her fall because she's a _Greek_?'

'I don't _think, _I _know._'

'You're insane!' Webber exclaimed, and for once the Roman and I were in complete agreement. 'Do you whip up these conspiracy theories just for the heck of it?'

'It isn't a theory.' Liam snarled, 'I saw you! You were there and you didn't help—don't bother denying it.'

Another silence descended over the conversation. I had my ear completely pressed against the door and I would've given anything to have seen the expressions on both the men's faces. When Webber spoke again, his tone held the promise of menace, making my scalp prickle with fear.

'You can say what you like, but you have no proof.'

'I don't _need _proof.' Liam's tone was as dangerous. 'You might want to remember what Annabeth Chase means to Percy Jackson. And you _might _want to remember what Percy Jackson is capable of.'

Webber didn't respond and the next sounds I heard had me diving away, towards the wreckage left on the deck from the monster attack. The door pushed open and Webber marched out, his expression absolutely livid. Thankfully, he didn't see me and went right past, disappearing into the crowd.

Liam emerged a few seconds later, but he'd turned his head away so I couldn't see his face. Trying to sort out the validity of everything I heard, I forced myself to think rationally. There was a way to confirm if Webber had been near Annabeth, but I didn't have a clue as to how to approach the topic of letting her fall.

It was entirely possible that Webber hadn't reacted fast enough. What did Liam know anyway? He hadn't even been _in _the battle.

'Piper?' Jason's voice broke into my musings, 'er, what are you doing?'

Horrified that Jason had caught me skulking behind a pile of dirt and wood, I leaped to my feet. Screw Webber and Liam for the moment, I had other things to worry about.

'Oh. Hi. Yeah, I was just... picking up my sheet.' I gestured to the now mud stained paper on my hand. 'It fell.'

Jason raised an eyebrow, 'okay..? I'll uh,' he fidgeted with his pencil, 'I'll let you get back to it.'

My hand shot out, stopping him even before I'd processed the situation properly. 'Don't you want to... tell me a quality you admire about me?'

I kicked myself at the poor choice of words, but the damage was already done. Jason paused, unsure, and ill at ease. My hand was still around his arm and the contact was causing painful butterflies to dance in my stomach.

'I'll go first then.' I took a deep breath and smoothened out the crumpled paper against my thigh.

Jason angled back towards me and with a sudden burst of determination; I looked him right in the eye as I spoke.

'I admire your steadfastness. You strive to achieve every goal put in front of you, no matter what the cost.' I tried not to let his blue eyes distract me, focusing on the words I was saying, 'and I think that makes you a great leader.'

Jason tilted his head to one side, taking me in and the air between us grew uncomfortably heavy. Suddenly shy, I dropped my hand and tucked it away into a pocket.

'You _listen_.' Jason said, gaze unreadable. 'No matter who the person is, you listen to them and don't judge them.' He dropped his gaze to the deck, 'I wish I could do that.'

The mean voice in my head reminded me that I'd done none of that when talking to Liam earlier, but the relief of having Jason actually speak to me drowned out all dissenting voices. Fighting the urge to hug him, I smiled.

'Thanks.'

He shrugged, 'it's the truth.'

The conversation from the rest of the deck flowed around us, but at that point I don't think either of us noticed. A stifling sensation stopped me from saying anything though it rankled that our once easy familiarity was now riddled with doubts and insecurities.

Jason gave a stiff nod and made to move away and that caused me once again to speak without thinking.

'Jason, why are we doing this?'

He stopped, eyes becoming guarded. 'Doing what?'

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. 'You _know _what. Why are we... not talking to each other?'

'I've been busy.' Jason replied not meeting my gaze, 'running this ship isn't—'

'You've been avoiding me.' I cut in; annoyed that he hadn't even thought to put effort into his excuses.

'Piper—'

'I don't understand you!' I exclaimed, reminding myself to be mature and not act like a spolit child. 'It's been seven months! Will you just...' I sighed, 'why are you making me wait?'

Jason's stance turned defensive. 'I _never_ asked you to wait.'

Thrown by his tone, I struggled to find the correct words. 'It was implied. And I don't even mind waiting—if you'd just tell me what's bothering you.'

But Jason shook his head and taking a step away. 'Don't wait for me Piper.'

'It's not—'

'I'm _asking _you,' Jason interrupted, 'to stop waiting for me. It's never going to happen.'

For a moment, I thought the floor beneath me had fallen away because nothing else could have explained the sick, nauseating sensation that had just permeated through my stomach. Nothing else could have explained the strange, hollow feeling expanding in my chest. Certainly nothing else could have explained the stinging sensation in my eyes.

Jason shifted on his feet. 'I'm sorry, Piper. I really am.'

'It's fine.' I waved a heavy hand through the air, wondering if the floor was going to return any time soon. 'It's fine. I'm fine.'

It was only when I was halfway back to my cabin did I realize I'd used the exact same words as Annabeth had earlier in the morning. The thought did nothing to comfort me.

* * *

I cried.

Not too much, but enough to clog my nose up and make my eyes throb painfully. Also enough to feel like a complete idiot, and enough for whatever self respect I had to wash down the drain. Sitting on the bathroom floor using toilet paper as substitute tissue can do that to a person.

I don't know how long I sat there. It felt like eternity but it might have easily been five minutes. Jason's words played like a loop in my head, going hand in hand with Liam's statements, which was weird, considering the owners didn't get along at all.

Somewhere during the time when I realized I was staring at myself in the mirror, I heard voices echo from outside. It wasn't as big a deal as one might expect. Leo, for all his mechanical prowess, was a pretty terrible interior designer and consequently, each bathroom shared one thin wall with the main corridor outside and another equally thin wall with the cabin it was attached to.

If you listened hard enough, and if the people outside were speaking loud enough (or the surroundings were relatively quiet) it was possible for you to hear several different discussions at once.

One in particular, caught my ear. I recognized Annabeth's voice immediately.

'Can I talk to you for a second?'

In the silence that followed I heard a distinct sigh.

'I'm busy right now.' Percy spoke curtly, 'find someone else to get you a book.'

Wincing at the tone, I got to my feet, knowing without a shadow of a doubt that this was one conversation I did not want to overhear. If I got caught, Annabeth would skin me alive. Plus, I really didn't want to hear her be mean to Percy again.

'...it'll take a minute,' Annabeth was saying as I washed the dried tears off my face, 'I won't bother you after that.'

The unmistakable sound of a door—_my _cabin door sliding open froze me on the spot. There was only one way out of the bathroom and that was _through_ the cabin which, by the sounds of their footsteps, Percy and Annabeth had both just entered.

Cursing Annabeth for not taking Percy across to his room, I dithered, not knowing what to do. Common sense dictated that I exited as quickly as possible, but before I could get my feet to move, I heard Percy speak.

'Can you make this quick? I need to get back to the Bridge.'

'Sure,' Annabeth replied, 'sit down for a sec.'

Alarm bells went off in my head. I _had _to leave. Immediately. Annabeth's tone –so polite and disinterested– practically screamed her intentions, and if my inklings were right, (which they usually were, thanks to me being "unusually perceptive") it meant that I was going to be the witness to an emotional massacre.

Another sigh echoed through the walls, upping my anxiety levels.

'I've been doing a lot of thinking lately,' Annabeth began, 'and uh, I've come to a conclusion.'

_No, Annabeth, don't! _I felt like hitting through the walls and tackling her to the ground.

'Conclusion about what?' Percy's earlier annoyed tone had been replaced by a wary one. He'd picked up on the signs as well.

'Us.' Annabeth replied. The practical side of me wanted to cover my ears and it fought against the morbid side which wanted to continue listening. It was a losing battle—I was a moth drawn to the flame of implosion happening beyond the bathroom walls.

Percy didn't reply.

'Basically,' Annabeth cleared her throat, 'I don't think we're working out anymore.'

I could have heard a pin drop in the silence that followed those words. The drab walls of the bathroom suddenly seemed indescribably amazing and I concentrated on the patters of the floor tiles. None of it helped to black out Percy's strangled gasp.

'_What?'_

'This relationship isn't working.' Annabeth clarified, 'and I'm, uh, ending it.'

I was surprised the walls didn't shatter under the intensity of my gaze. But no, there they stood, relaying every word of the most heartbreaking conversation I'd ever heard, with a malicious glee.

A loud creak of springs and Percy was shouting. 'You can't just... you can't do that!'

'Percy—'

'_No!_' Percy's wounded roar echoed within my head. 'We had a fight, Annabeth—_one _fight. We just work things out, okay? We just need to find a middle ground and work things out!'

Annabeth didn't say anything.

'Please...' I barely heard Percy's broken whisper, 'don't do this to me. I'm sorry, okay? For everything; I'm _sorry_. Tell me what to do and I'll do it.'

_Please, _I too begged Annabeth inside my head. _Please forgive him for whatever he did wrong. _

'I don't know how to make it clearer.' Annabeth's emotionless tone had me flinching away, 'but I don't want to date you anymore. It's done. The decision's been made.'

It took me a few seconds to realize I was crying again. The tears dripped down my cheeks and into my collar. I felt Percy's pain flare inside me as Jason's voice echoed in my head.

_It's never going to happen. _

_I don't want to date you anymore. _

'Is there someone else?' Percy's question caught me by surprise. His voice held the promise of raw anger and incredible hurt. Why in the world would he ask such a question?

Apparently Annabeth was as taken aback because for the first time in the entire conversation, she didn't sound robotic. 'What? Why would you ask me that?'

'Just answer the question.'

'How does it matter—?'

'_It just does!_' Percy was back to yelling again, and from the thumps that followed I guessed he was pacing. 'You owe me one answer at least, so I'm going to ask again: do you like someone else?'

To be honest, I actually wanted to hear Annabeth's answer. Anything to give me some sort of explanation to her behaviour. Anything to make me understand why such a healthy relationship had gone off the tracks.

Annabeth hesitated; I could imagine the indecision on her face. I imagined her opening her mouth, words forming on her tongue, poised to fire back a delivery—

The GQ alarm screamed overhead.


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N: Sorry I've been out so long. I've decided to make keep a note of all the past events important to each chapter to serve as a reminder—especially when the gap between updates stretches so much. **

Previously on **The Final Frontier**:_ The seven find out that Percy's Curse of Achilles can be circumvented by an Imperial Gold weapon. Leo chooses not to fight the Sea Monster, inciting remarks from the rest of the crew. Jason makes a case for information against Gaia to be of paramount importance. Annabeth decides on a backup plan and breaks up with Percy. Piper, after being told by Jason to not wait for him, overhears said breakup—being the only person aside from Percy and Annabeth to know. The GQ alarm rings._

* * *

**13) Into the frying pan, I go.**

**Jason-I.**

I needed a label stuck to my forehead. Something like, **WARNING: HEARTBREAKER **so that anyone who interacted with me knew what an ass I was. And I didn't even mean for it to be the cool, player, kind of thing. It would be the mark of a man who couldn't make a decision. Like that guy who'd killed his own brother in the Bible.

Except, you know, not as horrific.

It wasn't like I was didn't like Piper. Because I did. Far too much for my own good, in fact. The problem was that I really couldn't act on it. Without factoring in the whole Reyna mess, (and that _was _quite a mess) there still remained the issue concerning my involvement in the Prophecy of the Seven. It seemed like I was the only one focusing on the bigger picture.

Percy often did his own thing without any regard for me or the consequences following his actions. Annabeth was too busy hiding something and alienating everyone else in the process. Leo, Frank and Hazel were caught in some kind of three legged race towards an invisible finish line. The only person left to count on was Piper and how could she provide a unique perspective if I dated her?

And then there was the biggest worry—what if Gaia used Piper to get to me, or vice-versa? In all honesty I didn't even know if I could choose the quest over Piper. What sense would it make if I served up Gaia with _another _relationship to manipulate?

Before I could reach any sort of conclusion to my internal debate, a high keening sound went off, bringing me out of my thoughts. For a second, my brain froze, trying to figure out why adrenalin was rushing through my body.

_The alarm, _I realized, as my feet sprinted up the path to the Bridge.

* * *

Having responded to two GQ's in three days, I'd become pretty used to seeing certain things. There was always a flurry of activity on the Bridge. The rest of the ship may not have responded in time but the people on the Bridge were always in the midst of a circle of chaos. Given that they're the ones who hit the switch, it makes sense.

So imagine my surprise when I came barrelling through the door only to find Liam and Malcolm staring out of the huge front window with casual puzzlement, and _not_, as I pictured them, running around like headless chickens.

Stopping myself from tumbling over one of the consoles, I blinked.

'What... what's the problem?! Where's the threat?'

Liam raised a slow eyebrow and commented, 'huh. Thought Percy would make it up first.'

'I told you so.' Malcolm shrugged, irritatingly calm.

Resisting the urge to throttle both of them, I straightened. I wasn't tolerating any more jokes with serious issues—it still rankled that Hank had left his place to just go ask someone out.

I fixed Liam with a cool stare. 'I'm really hoping you flipped the switch for fun, because the main deck looks quite dirty to me.'

Liam rolled his eyes. 'You wish. I'm waiting for the others to show up before I do the big reveal.'

Right on cue, as though we were all part of some bizarre play that an invisible figure was directing, the door pushed open and Percy walked in, followed by the other three crew members assigned to the Bridge.

'Where were you?' I demanded. 'I thought we agreed that one of us should be up here all the time.'

Percy froze, his eyes flitting away from mine. 'I got... occupied. Sorry.'

_Sorry? _I gaped at him. Had everyone just decided that we were a bunch of people on holiday and not in dangerous waters, on our way to save the world from a terrifyingly powerful being?

I tried to say as much, but Annabeth entered, and hijacked my sentence. 'What did I miss?'

Deciding that it was best to concentrate on the matter at hand, I turned to Liam. '_Now _do you want to fill us in?'

Liam grinned and waved his hands to Malcolm. 'Bring it up.'

Half of the large window turned black and another image appeared on to it. At first I thought we were looking at a Johnny Depp movie—black sails, large wooden masts and an unmistakable insignia filled the screen. Then I realized that none of the 'people' in it looked like actors.

'Is that...?' Annabeth usual composed demeanour gave way to a surprised yelp.

'Zeus almighty,' Connor Stoll whispered, leaning back in his chair to get a better look, 'that's an actual _pirate _ship!'

Liam's smile was so wide it seemed to split his face in half. 'Arr me hearties, it seem'd we be sailin' alongside some dangerous lads indeed.'

I turned to look at Percy, wondering what his reaction was like, only to find him skulking around on the other side of the room. I hadn't noticed he'd moved. His eyes were glued to the screen, but somehow, I got the feeling that he wasn't taking any of it in.

'How long is it out?' I asked, brushing away the slight unease that was creeping up on me. In my twelve years of training to fight monsters, I'd never faced a pirate and consequently, had no experience to fall back on.

Malcolm checked his calculations. 'It'll be visible by the naked eye in about a minute. Otherwise six minutes to collision.'

'Which gives us plenty of time to change course.' Liam added, 'I rang GQ just in case they decide to open up their cannons when they spot us.'

His words took a moment to register. 'Hold on,' I shook my head, 'your solution to this is to run away?'

'Sure.' Liam yawned, 'they're a sailing ship. We'd leave them in the dust—or wake, if you prefer, in less than an hour'

Something didn't sit right with me. Running from a fight was such an un-Roman thing to do. Besides, what if these pirates had some valuable information that we could... encourage them to part with?

'I think I've seen that ship before,' Annabth said, examining the screen with interest, 'that guy, in particular, looks like Blackbeard.'

'Nah.' Liam disagreed, 'Blackbeard has the waist of Santa. This guy is much thinner.'

I looked at the image again. It'd been taken from our long range telescope and had captured the ship in amazing detail. The figures on the ship however, were a little out of focus. The man I assumed Annabeth and Liam were referring to wore a long coat and a three pronged hat which covered most of his face. Beyond that, I didn't see any other identifying features.

'Ship's on the horizon.' Connor announced, pointing.

We turned, and sure enough, a black dot could be seen glinting between sky and ocean. I checked the screen and saw the Pirate-who-wasn't-Blackbeard-according-to-Liam, holding a telescope to his eye. They'd spotted us.

'Change course to what, Captain?' Malcolm asked, twisting his head around to find me.

I hesitated, 'not yet. We can use this to our advantage.'

A polite silence followed my words, as though all of them thought they'd temporarily lost their hearing and were waiting for me to correct myself. When I didn't, confusion began to appear.

'I'm sorry,' Liam drawled, 'do you _want _to go talk those lovely lads? I didn't figure you to swing your own sword, if you know what I mean.'

I ignored the jab and turned to Annabeth. 'From your experiences, how many pirates do you think are on that ship?'

'Twenty, thirty?' She shrugged, 'I've met pirates only once—and I wasn't paying them much attention.'

Her answer, though a little baffling (who didn't pay attention when they met pirates?) encouraged me. 'So we could take them easily. We have better weapons and higher numbers.'

'The question being of course, _why _we'd want to fight them when we could just _avoid _them.' Liam pointed out.

But I wasn't listening to him. For the first time since we'd started our voyage, we'd been presented with an opportunity which we could act on, instead of just react to. The ball was in our court—and I was going to make sure we scored a slam dunk.

'We want to fight them because they might be useful to us.' I said, as a plan formed in my head.

'How?' Liam's challenged.

'Because they might be agents of Gaia!' I snapped, 'or do you believe it's a coincidence that they've turned up next to us?'

Liam spread his hands. 'So staying out of their way makes more sense doesn't it?'

'You're missing the bigger picture as usual.' I swung my gaze around the room, making sure all of them were listening to me. 'If they are working for her, and if we do defeat them, we might be able to learn something about her plans.'

Annabeth's expression told me she didn't buy it. 'That's a lot of ifs, Jason.'

'It's worth the risk!' I argued, 'we have a huge advantage. We can't just pass up the one chance we have to throw her off.'

'No, apparently,' Liam muttered, 'we can't pass up the once chance to go get ourselves killed.'

I gritted my teeth. 'Don't worry, I won't ask you to do any fighting. I don't send cowards to the frontline.'

That got Liam's attention. He sat up straight, and I saw his hand twitch to his shoulder, wanting no doubt, to pull out his sword and prove me wrong. Just then the screen flashed scarlet in warning.

'Five minutes to collision.' Malcolm read, 'what are your orders Captain?'

I paused for a second, but the possibility of one upping Gaia overtook my brain. _This _what I was good at. When in doubt, attack.

'We're going to board them.' I said, thinking through the plan as I spoke. 'Adjust course so that we sail alongside. At the most favourable moment we'll swing across.'

'And who might this "we" be?' Liam asked, with heavy sarcasm.

'Volunteers.' I answered. I had a feeling not everybody would be up to taking on pirates, but at least some would be as driven as me. 'Patch down to Comm. and relay the message through the crew.'

Malcolm moved to follow through but Liam leaped to his feet, and physically stopped him from reaching the microphone. 'Belay that order!'

My eyebrows shot up in surprise, 'excuse me?'

Liam took a deep breath. 'As officer of the Watch, I'm refusing to allow you to command this ship into harm's way.' His unyielding gaze told me that he was being serious and this wasn't another of his stupid games.

My mouth would have fallen open had I got been grinding my teeth. The Bridge fell silent, and I sensed all eyes move to me, waiting for my reaction. My first impulse was to kick Liam off the Bridge. My second impulse was to kick him off the ship. Instead, I reached for words to convey my anger.

'I'm sorry Lieutenant, but you don't possess the authority to refuse _my _orders.'

A grim smile played on Liam's lips. 'Actually _sir, _you'll find that the officer on Watch takes his cue only from Captain—'

'And who the hell do you think I am?' I demanded, unable to keep my voice from rising

'—who as of two minutes ago,' Liam went on unfazed, 'is Percy Jackson.'

The silence would have been absolute, except for the flashing warning, which informed us that we were four minutes away from collision. Even so, the tense atmosphere made up the dramatic inadequacy. I was somewhere between shock and anger, Liam was smirking, and Percy, who till now had been an unresponsive participant in the discussion, looked like a deer caught in the headlights.

'So, Captain_,' _Liam made a great show of turning away from me, 'what are _your _orders?'

Percy glanced back and forth between us, not saying anything.

My pulse raced. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the digital clock reading two minutes past one. I'd never thought the switching command would be a big deal, but now, at such a crucial moment, I cursed my past self for not realizing its weakness.

'Percy?' Liam's confident smile wavered, 'what do you want us to do?'

Still, Percy didn't say a word. I grabbed at the chance of keeping my plan alive.

'Look man,' I said, keeping my tone utterly reasonable, 'they're _pirates. _We're veteran demigods with a better ship and better numbers. This is our moment!'

'Or,' Liam shrugged with an exaggerated lift of his shoulders, 'we could just _leave _and save ourselves the trouble—and lives.'

The seconds ticked by, but the indecision on Percy's face remained. The more I watched him, the more he seemed as though he was having a panic attack. His fingers tapped his thigh with increasing frequency and his gaze darted all over the place. I didn't understand it—he'd defended _Mount_ _Olympus _with forty demigods, I just wanted to pay a little pirate ship a visit with half that number.

'Three minutes to collision.' The speakers announced, even as Ops came online and demanded why the Bridge wasn't giving out any orders. I heard Malcolm say something but the words were drowned in the surge of adrenalin rushing through my veins.

'And I'm only asking for volunteers.' I said, trying to work that angle. 'Nobody will be forced into it.'

Annabeth shifted behind me. 'I don't know think it's a good idea Jason. Looking for trouble never is.'

My heart sank. Percy would trust Annabeth's instinct above every argument I made, no matter how logical. Sure enough, his eyes brightened as though new life had been breathed into him. His posture changed, jaw setting in resolve.

'Malcolm,' he said, glancing up at the screen, 'adjust course. We're going to pay our pirate friends a little visit.'

This time, the shocked silence remained unbroken. Liam's stunned expression in particular was priceless; though I had a feeling mine was as remarkable.

'Connor,' Percy continued, 'call down to Comm. and ask for volunteers.'

Annabeth came to stand next to me, grey eyes open in disbelief. 'Percy I don't think—'

'Jason,' Percy spoke over her, shifting his gaze to me. 'I'm coming with you. I'm assuming you have a plan?'

I fought through my astonishment to find the words. 'Uh, yeah. We'll wait for the ships to align and then—'

'Awesome.' Percy withdrew Riptide from his hand and gave me a grin. 'Let's go kick some pirate butt.'

* * *

By the time we got to the top deck, the dozen black sails with the famous white skull and crossbones could be seen clearly. The ship itself had the basic structure of a Greek trireme with a more curved main keel and impressive rigging—a definite English influence.

I counted out nine cannon holes on the first deck and another seven on the deck below that. That troubled me immensely.

'Why aren't they firing at us?' Percy wondered, reading my mind.

I didn't have any answer to that but I was determined to make sure that if the pirates suddenly got caught up, we wouldn't suffer because of it. I pressed my hand to the communicator in my ear, clicking once for the first channel.

'Bridge. Do you copy?'

'Loud and clear.' Malcolm responded.

'How close can you keep the _Argo II _alongside the pirates without the hulls hitting?'

There was a moment's pause and then I heard some discussion with Annabeth's voice saying a lot of things very quickly. I glanced at Percy –he could hear her as well, since our communicators were linked to avoid repetition of information– but he showed no outward distress or annoyance. I decided to put my theory that they'd fought, on hold, and attributed Percy's support of my plan, despite Annabeth's comments against it, to mean that he really did think it was a solid idea. The thought cheered me up.

Malcolm's voice came back on air. 'Twenty feet is the best we can give you.'

'That's fine.' I said, 'thirty is fine too, as long as you _stay _alongside the pirates.'

My plan remained dependent on Annabeth's steering prowess—if the _Argo II _pulled away during the struggle, it would isolate the fighters. And even if we were winning, the proximity of our ship would stop the pirates from firing their cannons since the blow back would be as damaging. Or at least I hoped so. I had no idea how well the celestial bronze would hold against explosive iron spheres.

'So seriously,' Percy rolled his shoulders in preparation of the coming battle, 'what's the plan?'

'Glad you asked.' I grinned, just as the door to the top deck opened admitting Leo and several others, 'I'll show you.'

In Leo's arms, glittering gold in the bright sunshine, was the birthday present he'd given me less than a week ago.

Percy stared at in fascination. 'Hey—I've seen that before. What _is _it?'

Leo turned his invention around and began loosening the straps so that it would fit a larger arm. He tossed out a question as he approached us. 'You ever watch _Batman, _Perce?'

'Once or twice.' Percy admitted.

'Think of this as the demigod version of a grapple gun.' I said, eyeing the assembling people. The ones who'd got into their armour were all Greeks and I only spotted a couple of other Imperial Gold helmets, both of them on Bobby and Dakota. Obviously the other Romans hadn't thought much about my plan. I couldn't blame them really—not when they had such issues with the sea.

'So it's like a winch?' Percy asked.

Leo spun the grapple gun, which resembled a sleeker arm greave, in his hands. 'It functions more than _just _a winch,' he scoffed, 'it's like a winch met a smartphone and had a genius kid with it.'

Percy grimaced. 'I could do without the images.'

I spotted the Roman I was looking for and waved him over. 'In any case, for today we're going it for its winch purposes.'

'Which is what?' Percy pressed, just as Frank pushed his way through the crowd. Frank had no armour on, but his bow strapped around his torso. I took the grapple gun from Leo and handed it to Frank, ignoring Leo's martyred expression—as though giving a Roman such a delicate instrument was the Apocalypse coming early.

'You know what to do?'

Frank shrugged, 'point and fire?'

'Point and fire.' I confirmed. 'I want a steady line so aim near the bottom of the masts. We're going to need the downward slope.'

'Got it.' Frank slipped the present on his arm and pulled up the straps as he walked to the edge. Bobby wandered over and passed me the extra breastplate and helmet he was holding. Dakota followed; his shoulders and arms draped with, what looked like, multicoloured snakes.

Percy goggled at him and turned to Leo. 'Are those more of your inventions?'

I laughed, slipping into my armour. 'Nope. They're belts. Regular, old-fashioned, belts.'

'Why would we...?' Realization dawned in his eyes. 'We're going to use them to slide down the line Frank's gone to set up.'

'Yep.'

I pulled my helmet on, wondering what the pirates were going to make of a warrior wearing a plume on his head. Not much, until I put a sword through them I suspected.

Leo raised his eyebrows. 'So... do those guys know we're going to cross a gap of churning water with a _belt_?'

I glanced at the people he was referring to. A little less than twenty were armoured up, including Leo, Dakota, Bobby and me. (Percy had refused the added weight of armour since he didn't really need it.) With the exception of us last three, they were all Greek. The extra ten people, including Frank, had bows in their hands. All of them, except for Katie Gardiner, were Roman.

'It won't be that bad.' I said reassuringly. 'Percy will come last to make sure no one drowns.'

Leo's expression reminded me of Hannibal's when he had indigestion. 'It's not the drowning that worries me... it's the falling thirty feet into freezing water, filled with lurking Sea Monsters, that's causing me a slight headache.'

I rolled my eyes. 'There are no monsters under us.'

'And you don't _have _to come.' Percy reminded him, 'this is volunteers only.'

Leo fiddled with his toolbelt, not meeting our gazes. 'No, it's fine. I sat out of one fight—I'm not going to sit out of another one.'

An awkward silence followed his words and I made a great show of checking up on things. Everyone seemed more than ready to fight and the pirates were half a mile away. Logically, they should have opened up their cannons but that front remained calm. Whoever the Captain of the ship was, he must have decided that some good ol' hand-to-hand combat was the way to go. A frission of adrenalin spiked in my veins and I felt my heart speed up in anticipation. Finally a clash where both parties had equal footing.

'So hold on,' Percy looked around in puzzlement, 'if I'm sliding down last, then who's going in first?'

I couldn't prevent the grin on my face.

'Me, of course.'

* * *

Frank's aim was spectacular.

The hook dashed across the twenty feet gap, slipped past the crew of jeering pirates, and coiled around the main mast, stretching taut enough for a tightrope walker.

A heartbeat of stillness.

Stomach in my socks, I grabbed the belt and threw myself over the edge. The leather burned against the cord and I tilted to one side, legs kicking wildly. For several seconds I didn't know if I was looking at sky or sea—there was an expanse of blue that stretched from horizon to horizon, befuddling my already heightened senses.

_You can fly, _I reminded myself, _get it together man!_

I pulled to my right, did a complete three sixty around the cord and crashed (armour and all) into the greeting party on the pirate ship. Both my legs went off in opposite directions and I found myself in the very painful position of doing spontaneous splits.

Above me, loomed a rather confused First Mate, holding a machete in one hand and a broken bottle of rum in the other.

'Tha' didn' look like ta' best landin' there, lad.'

'Not too bad actually.' I said and promptly stuck my sword into him.

The fight exploded into shouted curses and thrown bottles of alcohol. The First Mate went down like a dropped sack of potatoes, but for those first ten seconds it was literally me against thirty armed pirates. And not all of them had charming British accents—it seemed as though the crew came from all corners of the world. I had no idea how they communicated amongst themselves.

With my back against the starboard railing, I came whisker close to a curved scimitar thrown by a hooded, wooden legged man. Just as I reached to pull it out and use it to my advantage, two other bodies came flying overhead and flung themselves into the hooded man.

Waving a crossbow in one hand and a club in the other, the Stoll brothers formed a protective circle around me, knocking side the advancing pirates. Calling on the wind, I forced a gust into the sails of the ship, and the sudden speed threw everyone off balance.

More of the _Argo II's_ crew arrived –some zipping down the line, others tossed up by the ocean in which they'd fallen into– and our advantage became more pronounced. The hapless pirates had nowhere to go; they were either hit by the boarders, or went down with arrows in their shoulders, courtesy of Frank and the other Roman archers on the _Argo II. _

I glimpsed Leo fighting with hammers in both hands, spinning them around and yelling "rock-alanche" for some odd reason. Percy was duelling the Captain, far up in the rigging, their movements graceful despite the pitching of the ship. The Stolls had a game on where each had to yell out a terrible joke as they pressed against their opponents. Sherman and Mark simply bashed the pirates with their shields and hadn't even pulled out the spears strapped on their backs.

I sidestepped a couple of attackers, and used their own momentum to throw them into a solid mast. As easy as it would have been to slice them apart, I needed to have prisoners to interrogate if I wanted any information. Already, the fighting was dying down around the deck. The pirates were no match for such a cohesive onslaught. They were disorganized and prone to violent outbursts, all of which we used against them. Our armour knocked aside their weapons and our blades tore into their flesh.

We were winning.

Until, suddenly, we were not.

A couple of feet away from me, the First Mate sat up, no sign of the deadly injury I'd inflicted on him. He looked at me a tad reproachfully.

'Tha' wasn' very nice of you lad.'

Before I had a chance to get my head together, downed pirates were getting to their feet by the dozen, most a little dazed, but none bearing wounds of the battle they'd been in. What was worse, my crew had pressed deeper into the ship and were now being cornered, caught in crossfire between their earlier opponents, and their new ones.

Too late, I realized my mistake. I'd assumed they'd been working for Gaia. How, then, had I forgotten that she'd be protecting them? 'Back!' I roared, even as the First Mate put a long scratch down my breastplate with his glinting machete.

'Back to the line!'

I didn't have the breath for any more orders. The First Mate kept me more than occupied and we slipped and stumbled up the deck, the Legion training I'd received only just keeping me alive. Every blow I struck against the man sunk in deep, rivulets of blood pouring out, but he remained unconcerned.

Now I understood the terror Rick Grimes must have felt the first time he encountered a zombie.

I pushed out the hilt of my sword and broke the First Mate's jaw in one stroke. His smile didn't waver –except to get more uneven– and he cocked his head to one side, as though he was my parent admonishing me to behave.

Growing desperate, I tried the only solution and went for his head. I missed, slipped on the wet deck and fell over backwards in some stray ropes. The First Mate grinned, blood seeping down his clothes and raised his machete—

A hammer flew by and smacked into him, taking his head clean off his shoulders.

Leo appeared, panting, and covered with slime and blood. He held out his hand.

'Are you hurt?'

I struggled to my feet, 'no. You?'

Leo grimaced in answer and I noticed blood on his chest.

A loud shout directed our attention upwards and we got treated to the heart warming sight of Percy dangling by his fingertips as the Captain made to cut him apart.

Leo didn't hesitate. Throwing his remaining hammer with a loud groan, he distracted the Captain and bought Percy the precious few seconds to leap down into a lower level. I tasted bile in my mouth when I realized Percy too was bleeding.

But there was no time to ask questions. The fight had come back to us and it took the most ingenious moves I had to protect both Leo and myself. Percy and the Captain renewed their duel on the rigging above us. Sherman and Mark broke the circle of pirates around us, the latter sacrificing his spear in the process.

No arrows peppered the air—the boarders and pirates were far too mingled for a clear shot to be taken. I could imagine Frank's helplessness even as I dodged my old friend with the scimitar.

'To arms! Take these filthy demigods as a sacrifice!' The Captain roared, weaving through Percy's tired swings, 'Gaia be praised! The Earth mother is with us!'

The pirates shouted in approval and pressed from all sides. One of them hit the line connecting both ships with the intent to sever it, but his weapon rebounded and got stuck in his shoulder. The pirate shrugged, and pulled it out, dripping blood, only to have another go.

We were running out of time. What had been an easy victory turned into a fight for survival. Shame rose within me and the anger that came with it helped me think. I needed to get my crew off the ship before the line finally broke away. I needed a distraction.

Kicking a pirate away, I climbed up the nearest ledge and forced the air to cooperate. Percy –in between his fight with the Captain– must have figured out what I was trying to do because the sea rose and sloshed over the sides, knocking people over, and helping the ship pitch to one side. I squinted into the sky and saw the black flag waving merrily in the wind. That only helped deepen my resolve.

'Retreat!' I screamed, hoping the rest of them would understand, as the deck tilted obligingly to the right. 'Demigods, pull back! Retreat!'

Some of them did understood. Those who didn't, didn't have much of a choice. Pirates and demigods got pushed to the starboard side en masse, and a couple of the former ones, jumped on to the line along with the latter. Fighting ensued, even as they hung on desperately with one hand, none of them keen to fall into the boiling ocean.

A sound of breaking wood pierced the air, and as I looked over, a full two tonne cannon bust out of the hull of the ship and went into the ocean. Several others came a moment later, forming their own holes.

I only then realized that between Percy and me, we'd forced both the ships into a private hurricane. The _Argo II _seemed to be managing fine, built as it was, from iron and steel. But the pirate ship had wood everywhere, and with the thrashing of the ocean, and the pounding wind, it was beginning to split apart.

'Infidel!'

A scream rent the air and my old friend, the scimitar guy, came at me, this time without his hood, and eyes blazing. Momentarily distracted by what I'd done to cause him such rage, I leaped off the ledge and caught his blade on my hilt. A burst of pain beneath my knee had me looking down, only to find a curved dagger sticking out of my leg.

Not even caring how it had got there, I wrenched it out and turned it around, supplementing my sword strokes with quick jabs. Adrenalin kept me from crying out when I put weight on my injured leg, but even that couldn't keep it from giving way underneath me. Hopping around on the rolling deck, Scimitar guy and I exchanged a flurry of blows. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Leo slam into a pirate and throw him over. Sherman stayed next to the line, defending it, but his movements were jerky and he had a nasty cut above his eyebrow, hampering his sight.

About half of the boarders were on the line, trying their best to get back to the _Argo II_, while fighting single handed with pirates who were pursuing them. Thankfully, our archers kicked in and began picking the pirates off and forcing them to jump into the sea.

'Jason!' Leo pushed into my fight, surprising scimitar guy so much that he tripped over his wooden leg and fell to the deck. Seizing the opportunity, I swung my sword and cut off the pirate's fighting arm, ignoring the urge to puke when my blade sliced through bone.

Leo kicked the scimitar away from the other hand. 'Jason, there are cannons belowdecks!'

'Yeah, I know!' I dodged several cutlasses pointing my way and pulled Leo back, away from the milling pirates. We'd have been overwhelmed because of the sheer numbers but above us, the rigging snapped, and the Captain and Percy fell down, throwing the lot of us into confusion.

Leo's arm blazed to life, scaring away the wild men, and he grabbed Percy by one arm. 'Percy—come with me!'

Before I could object (or even ask what Leo was up to) the ship rolled, sending both of them into the open hatchway. The Captain, trying to avoid impaling himself on my sword, lost his balance and got thrown down the hatchway too. Two pirates tried to follow, but the ship rolled again and several boxes toppled over, blocking the path.

Snarling in frustration, they turned on me. 'Ach! Schwein, prepare to die!'

Grasping the only available thing I had for a diversion, I lobbed my helmet at them and with the biggest hop I could take, got airborne. I made it all the way to Sherman before losing strength, nearly hanging myself on the line when I didn't snap my head back in time.

Sherman helped me to my feet, and I leaned on him, using all my energy to hang on to my sword. We were the only two left on the pirate ship, aside from Percy and Leo, and even with all the help the archers were giving us, there was no way we could defend the line anymore.

We were outnumbered nearly ten to one.

The pirates edged closer to us, a little unsure at first since their Captain and First Mate were both missing in action. I didn't miss the hungry gleam in their eye as they took in the _Argo II _behind us—they wanted my ship.

'Sherman,' I said through gritted teeth, ignoring my trembling leg, 'can you swim?'

Sherman's hand tightened around my arm. 'What about Percy?'

I felt my stomach contract at the decision I had no choice but to make. Percy's fate didn't bother me (he'd be at home in the sea)—it was Leo I had concern for. 'He'll make it out... hopefully.'

Sherman didn't say anything. I risked a glance to my right and saw that there were only pirates left on the line, relentless against the cloud of arrows they were facing. I hoped the rest of the crew had made it over safely and hadn't fallen into the waves.

The nearest pirate feinted, and I reacted on instinct. Twisting my sword around, I put all my weight behind it, and cut through the line. The wire, stretched tight all this while, recoiled backwards with surprising force.

A moment of silence passed, punctuated by the distant screams of the pirates plunging into the drink.

'Salaud! You weel pay for zat!'

The pirates leaped forward, swearing in their many languages. I grabbed the back of Sherman's torn shirt, and without another thought, threw us both over the side.

* * *

The cold water shocked some sensation back into my injured leg and I kicked upwards, throwing off whatever remaining armour I had on. Regretfully, I had to let go off my sword as well, and watching it sink to the bottom of the ocean gave me a feeling of acute loss, almost as bad as when _Ivlivs_ had broken.

Sherman and I broke surface together, a mighty feat considering the strong currents threatening to pull us under at any moment. In front of me, looming welcoming in the bright sunshine, was the _Argo II. _I could already see people on the main deck, waving us to swim towards them.

Sherman shook me. 'Jason!'

I turned to where he was pointing and found a kid sized hole in the hull of the pirate ship, already drifting father away. It was just above the waterline—one of the first damages made by the unrestrained cannons.

_Cannons, _I remembered and struck out towards it immediately.

Fortunately –or unfortunately, depending on the perspective– the pirate ship had slowed down to match the _Argo II's_ changed speed and course. The little sliver of water between both of them reduced rapidly, and even above the roar of the ocean, I heard the pirates' triumphant crises as they steered their wooden vessel to what they viewed to be bounty.

Sherman reached the opening first and used his legs to kick the rotting wood aside. I scrabbled for something to hold on to and sliced my palms open on the barnacle encrusted hull.

'Got it!' Sherman gave another mighty shove, and the planks fell away under his strength and the demanding ocean. Together, we got sucked into the strangest scene I'd ever had the chance to set my eyes on.

We'd breached the gun deck. The first thing I noticed, even as I struggled against the pushing waves, were the gleaming cannons, all lined up against the far wall. Tied to one of these, and only half conscious, was Leo.

In the centre of the curved room, stood the Captain of the pirates. He had both hands clamped down on Percy's neck, and was strangling him against one of the boxes surrounding them.

The incoming rush of water knocked him down and I seized the opening to find Percy. Sherman, taking my cue, went after Leo.

Bracing myself against the wooden chest, I clung on to Percy's shoulder, the only part of him I could feel. Saltwater stung at my wounds, and went up my nose—the hole Sherman had created was letting the whole ocean in.

I yanked Percy up, holding him with me, as we struggled against the tide. His eyes were dazed, and he had brutal marks on his neck. I had no idea if he was alive; my fingers were too numb to feel a pulse.

'Percy!' I shook him, praying he'd react before we all drowned, 'Percy, come on!'

A hand closed around my neck and pulled me backwards. Let go from my hold, Percy slipped under the water, even as I thrashed about, trying to find my assailant.

It was the Captain, and he had golden gloves. Imperial golden gloves, I realized a second later. And the sword he was swinging at me, unlike the rest of the weapons I'd faced from the pirates, was Imperial Golden too.

I missed the Captain's first strike by pure chance and kicked him in the stomach, knowing that the gesture was futile. Even if I _had _a weapon, I'd only be able to defeat him if I took his head off.

'Demigod scum!' The Captain spat, 'you're as worthless as your friend!'

He raised his sword, and pitched forward into me, under the sudden weight of Sherman who'd leapfrogged into him. All three of us sunk into the water, struggling furiously.

The fight didn't last long. The entire ship began listing to one side as water filled up the sealed gun deck at an alarming rate. I took short breaths every time I surfaced, but it didn't suffice. My vision went hazy, and my leg burned under the effort of keeping me afloat. I tried to look for Percy but he wasn't where I expected him to be. Bubbles invaded my sight and the only thing I remained conscious of was the thrashing around me.

The Captain struck out, catching Sherman by surprise, and used the moment to cut away one of the tied cannons. The heavy machinery tilted and we only just missed it, as the final rope snapped. The cannon, with all the force of a fifty tonne rampaging elephant, smacked against the hull and tore away half of it.

The sudden vacuum sucked first Sherman and then me, and we got ejected, moments later, back into the ocean. Disoriented, I tried to push my way back in, but the currents pulled me back. Fighting against the ocean was exhausting. For ever foot I gained, I got pushed back another two. Worry fed my strength but as powerful as, I was no match for the entire ocean.

By that time I had to find oxygen again, and when I broke the surface, I found that both ships were barely ten feet apart. The cross currents made the ocean in between deadly, and despite the part of me raging to get Percy and Leo out, I knew that neither I, nor Sherman, could make it.

_Regroup, _Lupa's voice echoed in my head, probably from some long forgotten lesson, _regroup and relearn. _

I signalled to Sherman, and we raced back to the _Argo II. _There was no time to lose. All I had to do was establish another line, then we could go in and pull the other two out. At least, that's what I told myself. The knowledge that I'd just risked the lives of half my crew, on an endeavour which I'd thought would be in the bag in five minutes, weighed me down as heavy as my nonexistent armour.

I found the rope hanging from the side of the _Argo II _and pulled myself up, half-aware of my shoulder blades protesting. My tugs must have been noticed, because the rope itself began to be hauled up—taking me along with it.

I stumbled over the railing and into someone's supporting arms.

'Captain,' Dakota's voice was urgent, 'we don't have—'

An explosion, so loud that it seemed to emerge from the depths of the earth, drowned the rest of his words. The shockwave hit a second later, lifting me off my feet and sending me across the deck. For a few seconds, I struggled to remain conscious, fighting pain and nausea and when I finally managed to open my eyes, I almost wished I hadn't.

Black smoke clouded the blue sky, emerging directly from a blaze of wooden planks and black sails—the last pieces left of the pirate ship.


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N: A prodigal reviewer of mine has returned, reminding me to never take any of my reviewers for granted. Thanks so much, guys!**

* * *

**14) And now, into the fire.**

**Jason-II.**

I blinked, trying to force my brain to do something constructive. Smoke rose from the terrible pyre, rolling in waves across the _Argo II. _It stung my eyes and nose, but I wasn't able to look away, hoping that _something_ would shock my body into functioning.

The ship's –_my_ ship's– emergency alarm was ringing. Orders were being shouted back and forth between Dakota and a bunch of other people. All the Romans from the top deck had come down now, along with the few Greeks who could still stand. Three feet away from me, looking as stunned as I was, lay Sherman. I glanced down and clamped my jaw shut for fear of throwing up.

The flesh on his elbow had all but disappeared—I could see right down to the white of his bone.

'Medic,' I whispered, even as my brain started and stopped, like a backfiring car. I was the Captain of a ship under attack. My friends had just been blown sky high. One of my crew members had probably lost total functionality of one of his arms.

It was too much. I couldn't handle it.

'Frank!'

I heard Hazel call, her high voice rising above the gruff tones of the others. I wiped away the glaze of tears and looked up, finding it odd that the smoke was thinning. Did that mean that the fire had gone out?

Hazel appeared, clutching Frank's arm and looking desperate. 'Frank _please. _You have to help—you're the only one who can!'

I swallowed and looked back at Sherman. His eyes were closed. His elbow remained mangled. Why wasn't anyone reacting?

'Medic!' I said, voice stronger now.

Like a jack-in-the-box, my thighs pulled of their own accord, and I sat up straight, head swimming from the noxious fumes. The siren blared and by degrees, my wits began to clear. The sharp, biting sensation of pain flared in my leg and brought clarity to my beleaguered synapses. Little by little, they began firing up.

Clutching the port railing, I got to my feet, taking in the entire scene for the first time. The main deck lay in chaos. People were talking over each other, gesturing against and not listening even as the senior officers tried to make attempts to establish order. Of the main boarding party I only made out Dakota, Sherman and me. The rest, I presumed with a sinking heart, had been taken to the infirmary.

I caught a flash of blonde hair. 'Annabeth!'

She turned, eyes widening in surprise as she took me in. 'Jason you're hurt!'

I hopped forward, and allowed her to grip my arm, ignoring her instructions to sit down and have someone look at my leg. _Percy and Leo, _a mantra began in my head, _I have to find Percy and Leo. _

Hazel's tear streaked face stood out from the crowd. 'Frank, I'm begging you.' She rubbed a hand across her eyes, 'you can find them! I _know_ you can.'

I staggered over to the starboard railing, and got my first sight of the wreckage. Wood lay about –most of it still in complete structures– fire licking at its edges, oblivious to the sea it was floating on. The sails had all burnt up; they'd been the cause of the foul smoke. Out of the seven masts I'd counted before, only three could be seen drifting. Ten feet of the bow of the pirate ship remained intact, the rest breaking apart as the fire ate away at the fuel. I recognized a waterlogged three pronged hat, belonging to the pirate Captain, but even that sunk within a few seconds.

There was no sign of any survivors—pirate or demigod.

'Frank,' Hazel had his collar in a vice grip, 'please.'

I turned my head at Frank, wondering what other catastrophe had taken place. His face was deathly pale, but he swallowed, Adam's apple bobbing up and down, and met my gaze.

'Permission to search for our missing crew, Captain?'

When my tongue refused to work, Annabeth stepped in, 'you can't go in there, Frank—the sea, the _fire_, it's all too much.'

Her calm voice had the undercurrent of raw emotion and I felt her arm tremble against mine. It must have been killing her to say such a thing –after all, her boyfriend was down there as well– but she, like me, was in damage control mode now. Risking another demigod's life would be foolishness. I tried to say something else –something along the lines that we would just have to wait– but my jaw wouldn't move.

'Please,' Hazel's gold eyes flashed in the sun overhead, 'he has a gift. He can use it!'

'What gift?' Annabeth asked.

Frank didn't reply—still holding my gaze. I saw a spark of something in his eyes, besides the obvious fear. Determination. He was looking to me, as a solider did to a general, when he volunteered for a dangerous task. Frank knew all about the consequences. He was choosing to ignore them. Refusing him permission would be a disservice to both of us. And how could I say no, knowing that my best friend may have been fighting for his life at the very moment?

I nodded, barely managing to unhinge my jaw. 'Permission granted.'

Frank took a deep breath, backed a couple of steps away and with a running jump, leaped clean over the side.

Just before he hit the water, he turned into a dolphin.

* * *

I had to sit down after that, convinced that my pain induced hallucinations had already begun. Chris got me a canteen of nectar and I sipped at it, listening to Hazel's rapid fire explanation to Annabeth. Both of them stood near me, watching out for Frank's progress.

I heard something about Frank being a descendant of Poseidon, who in turn had been a part of the original _Argo's _crew before I gave up trying to understand. The gist of it was clear—Frank could turn into any animal he wanted to. In my befuddled state, it made complete sense. Of course a demigod could become a dolphin; it was simply part of the natural order of things.

Max Keenan and a couple of others carried Sherman down to the infirmary, Dakota limping behind them on swords he'd converted into makeshift crutches. Not one person of the boarding party had come away uninjured. Eighteen demigods had attempted to seize the pirate ship. Sixteen had returned, bearing horrific wounds.

Two others –both members of the Prophecy– were MIA.

And all of it, was my fault.

I couldn't even begin to comprehend the magnitude of my failure. Not only was half my crew sitting out of action, or two of my friends probably dead, but the _Argo II _itself, the only vessel capable of such a voyage, was damaged in the blowback of the explosion.

My dream of turning the tables on Gaia was in ashes—just like the ill-fated pirate ship. If I'd been a part of the old Rome, the _real_ Rome, I'd have been put to death for such gross ineptitude.

'How long has he been down there?' Annabeth's tight tone cut the pocket of silence surrounding us.

Hazel took a moment to answer. 'Three minutes. He should be coming up for air soon.'

I entertained the thought of joining them at their vigil, but my leg was in no shape to stand on. I glanced away, feeling sick, and met Piper's gaze across the deck. We looked at each other for half a second, then she ducked into the stairs leading into the ship. I couldn't help but remember that her brother was in the infirmary because of me.

'What was that?'

Hazel's tense tone had me looking up.

'What was what?'

'That! There, see!'

I gritted my teeth, wondering if I could ask one of them for assistance. My pride held out though, and using my hands and other leg, I got to my feet, panting with the effort. Neither of the other girls noticed.

'I can see bubbles!' Hazel announced.

Ignoring the mounting agony, I clutched the railing and followed her finger. Most of the wreckage had gone beneath the waves, but the bow of the ship was still afloat, kept buoyant by the currents of the _Argo II _as it circled the scene.

'Maybe Frank's coming up for air.' Annabeth spoke dispassionately but her drawn shoulders betrayed the pressure she was under.

I suddenly felt the urge to grasp one of her hands –maybe to give her hope, maybe to take some hope for myself– but I didn't even have to ask to know my advance would be met with disdain.

'I see something!' Hazel shook with excitement, 'I think he's—_oh_!'

I leaned forward, not quite believing my eyes either. Frank-the-dolphin had resurfaced and spread out along his back was the distinct, but familiar form of Percy Jackson. Paddling next to Frank's snout, and looking far too happy for someone who'd been in an explosion, was my best friend.

'Leo!' Hazel cupped her hands around her mouth, her voice carrying a strength I'd never heard before.

Annabeth had already moved to the ropes. She and Webber tossed them over the side in tandem, and I watched, helplessly immobile. Percy wasn't moving, and Leo and Frank-the-dolphin were working together to tie him up. As they toiled, sunlight flashed across Leo's head, reflecting off what could have been a tiara.

Two Romans joined the hauling team and under Annabeth's directions started the tedious process of bringing Percy up. Leaving Hazel to shout continued encouragement to Leo, I hobbled over to the others.

Percy arrived feet first, sopping wet and eyes completely shut. It took the combined effort of Annabeth and Webber to lift him over the side, straining to make sure he didn't hit his head on the deck. Wincing, I knelt down next to Annabeth, and Webber retreated to bring Leo up.

I put two fingers against Percy's neck, just like Lupa had taught me all those years ago. 'I think I can feel a pulse.'

Annabeth put an ear to his chest. My teeth were jammed together so hard that my ears were beginning to hurt. If Percy was dead—no, I couldn't finish the thought.

'Heart's beating.' Annabeth said quietly, 'and he's breathing. He's alive.'

A lead weight lifted from my stomach and I had to look away to brush away the tears springing out of my eyes. _Thank you, _I projected my thoughts to the sky, knowing that my father had done nothing to help. Hopefully Lord Apollo was listening—he was a son of Jupiter too.

I struggled back to my feet, allowing Annabeth a private moment with Percy. Another lead weight lifted from my stomach, as Leo crested the railing, a wide grinning stretching his face. My best friend was alive. He was safe.

A second later, I felt my insides fall away, leaving an unpleasant sensation in the places they were supposed to be.

'_Oh gods!' _Hazel's shocked tone conveyed all the disbelief the rest of us were feeling.

Leo didn't notice. He'd already turned to Annabeth, shaking off the restraining hands. 'Is Percy okay? I tried to wake him up but he didn't—he didn't hear me. He's okay, right?'

Annabeth opened her mouth to answer, caught sight of Leo, and closed it without comment. Her expression remained stoic as she glanced at me, conveying a clear message: _deal with this, Jason. _

'Leo,' I forced the words out in my most gentle tone, 'stop talking just for a sec.'

Leo shook his head –causing nearly all of us to have a coronary– and gestured with his hands to Percy's still body. 'I tried everything Jason; but I can't swim. I don't know if he—_can _he even drown?'

'Percy's alive.' I said quickly, 'but _you_ need to sit down right now.'

'It was a stupid idea.' Leo said, without any signs of hearing me, 'but we were losing and I had to do _something. _How much damage did the _Argo II _take?'

I exchanged a glance with Hazel, pleading with her to do step in. Her eyes were wide and I had a suspicion she was going to pass out. Meanwhile, Frank clambered over the railing, his expression guarded. He'd obviously noticed Leo's affliction and wanted no part in dealing with it.

'Is Percy okay?'

'Fine,' Annabeth, Hazel and I answered on reflex. Leo turned around, and only grew more agitated when he caught sight of his arch nemesis.

'And this guy,' Leo pointed at Frank, nearly trembling with excitement, 'he's a dolphin! A freaking _dolphin _man! Jason, did you know he's a dolphin?'

A deathly silence answered his question. By now none of us could contain our fright and out of the corner of my eye, I saw Chris step away and shudder, trying to collect himself. Leo finally noticed that we weren't on the same page.

'What's wrong?' Leo met my gaze, worry clouding his eyes. 'What's wrong? Did someone... did someone _die_?'

I gulped, unable to take my eyes off his head. 'Leo... don't freak out okay?'

It was the wrong thing to say. He stiffened immediately, as though preparing for a frontal attack.

'Why would I freak out?' His eyes shifted between us, dizzyingly fast.

I changed the question, hoping it would calm him down. 'Are you hurt? We have some nectar if you're in pain.'

Leo patted his torn and burnt t-shirt. 'Just a little banged up. I'm fine otherwise.'

A small squeak issued from Hazel's mouth. 'You're, um, sure about that?'

'_Yes.'_ Leo shot her a quelling look. 'I'm okay. Why wouldn't I be?'

I gestured to Webber with my head. He and Chris (who looked like he wanted to run away) took a step nearer to Leo's back, hands outstretched. I cleared my dry throat, praying to Lord Apollo again.

'Leo, you're...' I swallowed the nausea down, 'you have... a knife in your head.'

Leo's eyebrows darted upwards, hands automatically moving to his skull. '_what?_'

'Above your ear.' I answered, staring at the grisly meat cleaver sticking out of his head, covered with blood and skull fragments. It was a miracle that Leo was alive, with what seemed to be half a foot of steel inside his brain, but hey, I wasn't about to start asking questions.

'I have a—a _what_?' Leo began to hyperventilate, and his wandering hands found the handle of the knife. 'Holy Hephaestus!' He jumped a foot in the air; eyes wide open in terror, the full reality of the situation hitting him, 'take it out Jason! Take it out!'

Webber and Chris caught him, pinning his arms down before he could do more damage.

'Stop freaking out!' I shouted, half mad with panic myself, 'Leo—stop moving!'

He didn't listen. Struggling against Webber and Chris' restraining arms, Leo squirmed, alternately swearing and pleading with us to take the knife out. The blade shone red in the sunlight, mocking our attempts to figure out what to do. We couldn't pull it –gods knew what damage we'd cause in the process– but we couldn't leave it in either. Any minute the pain would hit, and render Leo nearly comatose in its wake.

'I have a knife in my head!' He roared, spinning in a circle, trying to evade Chris' headlock grip, '_why_ are you just standing there?'

Hazel tried to pacify him. 'We can only try something if you calm down!'

Leo brushed that aside and turned on Frank, 'why didn't you say anything earlier, dolphin boy?!'

True to Frank's nature, he bristled under the insult. 'Don't call me that!'

The exchange might have been funny if it hadn't been so downright scary. Thankfully, before I went through with the idea of punching Leo to shut him up, Max Keenan arrived and held bottle of chloroform to his nose. Leo tried to resist –yelling that we were all a bunch of "commies" and swearing on revenge– but the exhaustion won out and he inhaled two or three times.

'I can see spots,' he murmured, swaying on his feet and looking absurdly cartoonish with the cleaver pointing out of his skull at such an odd angle, 'hey Dolphin boy, what gives?'

Seconds later, Leo's legs bucked underneath him, forcing Frank, Hazel and Chris to catch him as he fell. After a minute of discussion, Max, Webber and Annabeth lifted Percy up and followed the others down to the infirmary. It was only then, with the deck clear of any stragglers, I limped to the railing and heaved the contents of my stomach into the ocean.

* * *

Two hours later, the _Argo II _was back on course. Damage assessment had been taken and we found that most of the problems were external. We'd lost a quarter of the protective bronze plating from the starboard side of the ship, and the top deck was now, officially, out of bounds for all crew members who didn't wish to break their necks. An underwater survey of the hull, carried out by Frank-the-dolphin- was ordered.

Since both Leo and Nyssa were out of commission, the responsibility of securing the insides of the ship fell to the Vulcan children, led by Annabeth and Jake Mason. The latter, having broken his wrist and sprained two fingers, played the advisory role.

After a hundred and twenty minutes of tramping up and down the decks and trying to fix a Watch roster with such a depleted crew, my leg finally gave out, and much to my chagrin, I had to be carried to the infirmary to get bandaged up.

Matthew and Pique deposited me on to the nearest empty chair, beside the door and tried to find someone to attend to me. The place was in chaos, there were literally five Apollo kids trying to do everything at once—even Will Solace and his siblings, Kayla and Austin couldn't summon the energy to help, injured as they were.

'We need a healer over here.' Matthew called, in his usual blunt manner as Max Keenan went rushing past to one of the beds surrounded by blue curtains. He pushed open the coverings and I caught sight of Leo –meat cleaver and all– lying still against the white sheets.

Temporarily forgetting about my condition, I leaped to my feet. 'You guys haven't taken that out yet?!'

Max turned, raising an irritated eyebrow. 'It's a delicate progress Captain—now sit down and stop behaving like his wife.'

Rebuked, but with no outlet to my anxiety, I retook my seat in mute frustration. Every king had his castle, and mine, unfortunately, was up in the Bridge. Matthew and Pique exchanged concerned glances.

'Captain's leg is pretty mauled up.' Pique pointed out, 'can't you spare anyone sir?'

Max twisted his head back and forth, like a ruffled owl, annoyed at being kept from his task. He snapped his fingers; beckoning to the person he was looking for.

'McLean, clean this up. And you two...' Max turned his baleful gaze on Matthew and Pique, 'get out. This place is crowded enough.' And with that, the son of Apollo vanished from view, leaving Piper to approach me alone, as the other guys beat a hasty exit.

'Um,' Piper gestured to my leg awkwardly, 'you're going to have to lift that a little bit.'

Feeling flustered, I complied, distracting myself by wishing a thousand curses on Keenan's idiotic head. The minutes passed and Piper's ministrations –while not pleasant– weren't as bad as I feared. Eventually my curiosity won out, and I ended up taking a look at her handiwork. She'd cleaned out the wound with nectar, and sutured it up nicely, her stitches marching in neat rows along the broken skin.

'Woah,' I said, forgetting that it wasn't a good idea to talk to her, 'when did you learn how to do that?'

A beat of silence passed, and I realized how my words sounded.

'Not that you _had _to learn,' I added hurriedly, 'I mean I'm sure your healing powers are—'

'Will taught me.' Piper's clipped words put a stop to my babbling. She ran her fingers over the wound, checking the strength of the thread before looking up and finishing her sentence. 'Back at Camp. I thought it would be a good skill to pick up.'

I nodded mutely, very aware of the little hotspots that her fingertips had left on my scarred skin. Some small part of me was screaming to just grab her and kiss her—forget about the rules for once. Forget about the consequences. It didn't matter. This was war. How many more chances was I going to get?

_But look what happened between Percy and Annabeth, _my conscience prickled, _can you afford another disaster? _

I opened my mouth, paused, and after the familiar weight settled against my stomach, closed it without saying a word. I owed the crew my life now—it wasn't mine to share with whoever I pleased anymore.

Piper wiped off the extra blood and grime with clean gauze and wrapped a bandage around my shins, supporting it with tape which I knew would hurt like Hades when it came off.

'You should stay off this for a while.' Piper waved at my leg, not looking me in the eye as she stood up. 'You'll only tear the stitches if you walk around on it.'

I tried to pretend that her curtness wasn't as bad as Scimitar Guy's scimitar, but really, it was way worse. 'I'll keep that in mind.'

Piper put away her instruments, and I, determined to keep my pretence intact, looked passed her to the hidden bed Leo occupied. I could see movement, but whatever instructions Keenan was laying out, got lost in the general mayhem of the infirmary.

'He'll be okay.' Piper said, surprising me with the confidence with which she spoke. 'Leo always is. You can't keep him down.'

I felt the remnants of my earlier nausea rise in my throat. Her optimism hurt more than any rebuke could have. As though I was still worthy of inspiring hope in anything.

'He should have never gone on that ship in the first place—_none _of them should have.' Visions of Sherman's torn elbow swan in front of my eyes. 'I can't believe I let this happen.'

Piper didn't respond.

'It sounded so good in my head,' I went on, feeling an incredible urge to explain, 'we were supposed to _win _this. We outnumbered them. We fought better than them. And then...'

I trailed off, unable to articulate the size of the gaping hole in my assumption.

'You couldn't know the pirates wouldn't die.' Piper said gently.

Looking up, I met her square in the eye. 'But I _should _have! That's the whole point of me and Percy leading this quest—we have the _experience_! And neither of us realized... neither of us...' I stopped, swallowing, '_Liam_, of all people, figured it out. Him and Annabeth. But we didn't listen to them.'

Piper's expression changed, her eyebrows drawing together.

'I was so gung-ho about it,' I wanted to bury my face in my hands and never look up again, 'and Percy agreed. So I thought—I thought that we were unstoppable.'

The silence thickened after my statement and across the room I could see the bed Percy's motionless body lay on. The Apollo kids had decided that since he was breathing –and not injured in any prominent physical way– they'd leave him be, until they finished dealing with the rest of the wounded crew.

Worry ate at my chest, exactly the way Coach Hedge gnawed on his club when he was hungry; I'd seen Percy pass out for hours before, but from Frank and Leo's account, they made it seem as though he'd gone unconscious right after the explosion.

Which made sense in a way, since there were only so many ways Leo could have survived the blast—the most obvious being a Son of Poseidon's sea power shielding him.

The thought niggled at me: putting a label on the unnamed confusion still flowing through my body. An image of the pirate Captain strangling Percy flashed bright before my eyes.

'And then there's something else,' I shook my head, trying to rally my memories together, 'Percy was the trump card. Chiron told me he's invincible in the ocean, and with the Curse I thought...' Another colossal mistake I'd obviously made, 'I thought he'd be the safety net should things have gone wrong.'

My throat constricted again, and I stared at the floor, half wondering why I was deciding to spill my soul to Piper. Maybe she'd laugh at me and tell me I was pathetic. I certainly deserved it.

A rustle of cloth, and Piper sat down, startling me so much that I nearly fell off my chair.

'Wha—?'

'I need to tell you something.' Piper's quiet tone rang with foreboding.

My head spun –both from her proximity and the fear that something else was going wrong– and I inhaled sharply, wincing because of the burning scent of antiseptic permeating through the air.

Piper knotted her fingers together. 'I don't think I should but...' she took a deep breath, 'it might explain a few things I guess.'

'What are you talking about?' Irrationally I wondered if she was about to announce she had a new boyfriend.

Piper glanced at Leo's covered bed and that seemed to deepen her resolve. Closing her eyes, she began, 'before the GQ alarm rang, a little while after we had our... conversation—'

I winced, but she ploughed on.

'—I overheard an encounter between Percy and Annabeth.'

Here Piper paused, leaving me with only rising amounts of bewilderment. Was she about to tell me how perfect they were for each other and how she'd hoped for something like that with me? Because, honestly, that would make two of us.

'Annabeth basically... well, Annabeth broke up with him.'

I raised an eyebrow. 'Who?'

'Percy.'

A couple of seconds of staggered silence passed. 'She did... _what_?'

'Broke up with him.' Piper repeated, moving to clarify after I kept gaping at her, 'Annabeth said she didn't want a relationship with him –Percy that is– anymore.'

'But _why_?'

Piper shrugged, helpless. 'I don't know; she just said that she wanted out. And that no matter how much he protested, she'd made her decision. She just...' Piper struggled to find the words, 'shut him out. Switched off.'

I tried to wrap my head around what I was hearing. Percy and Annabeth were supposed to be solid. Why would Annabeth do this? Better yet, what had Percy been thinking on receiving the news?

Pieces of the jigsaw puzzle started to fall into place, and under the blanket of sympathy I was feeling for Percy, a sharp edge of cold rage began to form. So many little events leading up to such a huge consequence. It seemed unbelievable, but suddenly I just _knew._

'How did Percy take it?' I asked, fighting to keep my tone controlled.

Piper hesitated, probably seeing the start of emotion across my face. 'He didn't—I don't think he really processed it. The GQ alarm interrupted them and he left without saying another word.'

The sequence of events started to play in my head. I'd responded to the Bridge first, and Percy hadn't been there, because Annabeth had been breaking up with him. Then he'd arrived, and she soon after, but they'd stayed at opposite ends of the room. They hadn't even spoken directly to each other.

And even _now, _when he lay inert in a bed, Annabeth wasn't at his bedside. An odd, irrelevant detail I'd failed to notice but now made so much sense in context.

It was so ironic, that just two hours ago, I'd thought she'd push me away for putting her boyfriend into such danger. When all along –with the ultimate sting of betrayal– she'd been the one to...

I cleared my throat and looked at the doorway, where both Pique and Matthew were skulking around.

'Where is Annabeth Chase?'

Chris looked a little surprised at the question, and after a brief back and forth with his partner, turned back to me. 'Engine Room, Captain. She and Lena are supposed to be checking it for faults.'

I was on my feet the next moment, ignoring both my protesting leg and Piper's urgent tugging. My brain switched over to automatic, and all the frustration and disappointment clouding around inside me came together, like a cohesive spear, itching to be thrown.

'Jason you _can't!_ This isn't the time for—and your leg! Don't go after this right now!'

'Piper,' I said, my voice strangely calm, despite the turmoil I was in, 'keep an eye on Leo for me please. The minute he wakes up; I want to know.'

'Jason—'

But I was already out of the door.

* * *

The walk to the engine room –as painful and horrible as it was– didn't register in my head. One minute I was outside the infirmary, the next I was at the Engine Room. I might have nodded to people going past, might have even had a couple of conversations with people who had to clear things with me, but when I reached the iron door, the only thing I could focus on—the _only _thing I see was Percy's jubilant face.

_Let's go kick some pirate butt. _

Wrenching open the door in front of me, I entered, ignoring the hasty salutes from the Roman crew.

'Officer on deck.' Lena said, snapping to attention. Her siblings followed, leaving Jake Mason mildly confused. Annabeth didn't even look up from the jumble of wires she was peering at.

The shock of seeing her there brought some measure of calm over me.

'Leave the room all of you,' I ordered, 'I need a moment with Lieutenant Chase.'

Hearing her name, Annabeth reacted, but I made sure not to meet her eye. Lena and the others hesitated but Romans were taught never to question a demand from a senior officer. An old joke followed that in the Latin alphabet taught to Roman demigods, _x_ was followed immediately by _z_. There was no why.

Jake, clearly out of his depth, threw us one last curious glance before shutting the door behind him. I hoped that they'd have the good sense to retreat a few paces away—there was no telling how this conversation was going to go.

'Jason?' Annabeth prompted after the silence between us grew, 'is there something wrong?'

Her tone –so nonchalant, so unconcerned– did it for me. I put a hand against the nearest wall of metal and fought for composure.

'I don't know.' I replied, 'is there something you want to tell me?'

Annabeth glanced around. 'Not particularly; we're just checking the wires for a short circuit. So far we haven't found anything.'

'Okay.' I nodded, breathing forcefully, not quite hearing the inane remark, 'how about this: I ask you a question and you answer it. Fair enough?'

Her eyebrows knit together, confusion mixed in with irritation. 'Just get to the point Jason.'

My fingers dug into the metal plate. 'Did you, or did you not break up with Percy today?'

Annabeth's demeanour changed so fast that Piper's earlier observation of flipping a switch was the only way to describe it. She went from polite disinterest to ice cold within a span of two seconds.

'I don't think that's any of your concern.' Annabeth's tone was low, pulsing with danger. Warning me off. Annabeth Chase's personal life was not to be trifled with. Beware.

I fought back a sudden urge to laugh. Did she really think I'd confront her over her dating decisions? 'Ordinarily I'd agree with you but when you put _my _ship and _my _crew in danger—then it _becomes my concern!_' My volume rose with the last few words, and with great difficulty I stopped it from going any higher.

Annabeth's eyes widened. 'What are you talking about?'

'Percy!' I snarled, unable to reign in my temper in any longer, 'I'm talking about dear Percy. My fellow Captain, who if you remember correctly, was put in a bit of a spot earlier this afternoon.' I switched my tone to scathing, 'oh don't you remember? At precisely one-oh-five p.m. he made a decision he had no business making in the first place!'

Comprehension dawned on Annabeth's face. Or maybe she'd known all along and had been faking it. I couldn't tell anymore. I couldn't tell anything from anything anymore. Mitchell, the Stolls, Pollux—all of them injured. All of them hurt.

'This has nothing to do with anything.' Annabeth said, trying to form some semblance of defiance.

'Doesn't it?' I countered, simultaneously proud and horrified of the terrible sarcastic tone I was talking in. 'Are you telling me that the Percy on the Bridge—the Percy who _agreed_ to fight the pirates—was a man in complete control of his emotions?'

Heavy silence greeted my question. Annabeth's grey eyes filled with fear –an image so foreign to me after her week of detachment– and her jaw held tight, displaying an odd combination of helplessness and denial. I might have felt pity for her; if I would have been able to feel _anything _beyond anger at that point.

'You sent him to that Bridge in that state Annabeth,' I curled my fist against the wall, wanting so desperately to hit at it, 'and he had _no idea_. Not one clue of the decision he'd made.'

Annabeth took in a shaky breath. Guilt flicked in her eyes. 'I didn't know,' she whispered, 'I didn't know that the alarm would ring—' her voice broke, spilling forth suppressed panic, 'Jason _I didn't know!_'

I could accept that truth. And ordinarily I wouldn't even have come down so hard on her. It wasn't her fault that the timing had sucked. It wasn't her fault that she'd been unable to predict Percy's behaviour. But one thing –one undeniable, irrefutable thing– was her fault and if she'd stepped up to it, the entire disaster could have been avoided.

'I'm not blaming you for not knowing,' I said, 'and you breaking up with him is _your _business. But you were on that Bridge too Annabeth, and you _let _him make that decision—and let_ me_ believe that he was _fit_ to make that decision.'

Annabeth didn't say anything. If I'd have been more in control of myself, I'd have remembered that this was the friend I'd relied on so much in the past. _This _was the girl who'd given me some semblance of a plan back when I didn't have a memory or an identity. She'd given me her unshakable support when there had been no reason to and so despite myself, despite everything I'd been taught as a Roman, I'd thought that she could be one person I could trust to see things my way.

But that was part of the problem.

'You didn't tell me.' I stated, feeling the sting of betrayal once again, 'you felt guilty for what you'd done so you let it go. You let it go and you didn't say a _word _to me—didn't bother to mention it. How could you do this to me?'

For the first time since I'd met her, Annabeth Chase didn't not have an answer to a question of mine. And that only intensified my anger.

'I'm supposed to be able to depend on him!' I shouted, tears springing into my eyes at the memory of Sherman and his elbow and Dakota on crutches, and Leo with the cleaver, 'He's supposed to be able to tell me where I'm going wrong—_and you took that away! _And now half my crew is lying in the infirmary because for the _one _time I needed Percy he wasn't there because of _you._'

Annabeth recoiled, as though I'd punched her in the gut.

'And the best part?' I went on ruthlessly, 'the _very _best part of this mess is that I _told _you. I told you how's he like when you're involved. Tunnel vision. He just doesn't care.'

I paused, feeling the anger drain out of my body, only to be replaced by a bone deep weariness. I was so tired of it all—shouldering the heavy burden on my own while the others did what they wanted to. In one moment of doubt I'd turned to Percy, and he'd failed me. They all had failed me.

'Apparently you don't care either.' I said quietly, 'And apparently I can't count on any of you to succeed in this quest. Thank you for showing me that.'

For one long moment Annabeth stared at me. One arm hung loosely at her side, her eyes dull with shock and guilt and maybe, just maybe, some regret. I rather wanted her to hit me. I wanted her to turn on me and tell me what I had to hear: _you're the one who wanted to attack that ship in the first place, Jason. _

But she didn't, and we stood in agonized silence. Then, without another word, she stalked out of the Engine Room.

* * *

Till late in the evening I stayed in my cabin. I couldn't bring myself to return to the Bridge—facing all the judging stares from the other half of the crew would be far too much to bear. I thought of Thalia and wondered what she'd have said if she'd been nearby, but as much as I tried, I couldn't imagine her advice. I just didn't know her well enough.

I tried to imagine Leo instead, by every time I did; I saw the meat cleaver and that just made me want to throw up. Finally I resorted to Piper and though picturing her warm smile helped matters a great deal, I couldn't help but remember that if she'd volunteered for my mission as well, she too would have been injured—or even worse, dead.

Around eight o' clock, a knock sounded on my door and Frank poked his head in.

'Uh, Captain?' He looked at me apprehensively, 'Piper sent me—Leo's woken up.'

I stared at the darkened ceiling above my head. The wooden support beams stood in stark relief to the plain surface they lay on. A long forgotten memory of the beach crashed against the white paint, echoing in my ears. I rubbed a hand across my face.

'Captain?' Frank repeated.

Ignoring every shrieking bone on my body, I sat up and struggled to my feet. Unexpectedly, just as I took a step, Frank appeared on my right and held out his arm. I stared at it in disbelief.

Frank withdrew, neck reddening, 'I just thought you might need...'

Startling him, I grasped on to his shoulder, grateful even for the slight amount of weight it took off my foot. I'd already torn two of my stitches; (and stained my jeans in the process) there was no sense in adding to my misery.

The walk to the infirmary was slow and awkward. Frank filled me in on the hull –it looked reasonably intact– and the state of the Watch. Apparently, Liam, in a rare moment of selflessness had taken three back to back Watches. When I expressed amazement, Frank shrugged, not really bothered. According to him, "Liam never really sleeps anyway."

When we reached the infirmary, the first thing that struck me was how calm it appeared. The earlier chaos had given way to systematic order. All of the beds were occupied, but most of the occupants were fast asleep. The Apollo kids too had decided to crash right next to their patients, just in case they were needed at a moment's notice.

In one darkened corner, near Percy's bed, stood Max Keenan and Anthony Webber. By their gestures they seemed to be in the midst of an argument. But my attention moved past them and came to rest on Leo and the people surrounding him.

Hazel sat closest to him looking drawn and worried. She clutched one hand of his and there was no sign of her earlier awkwardness. Piper sat on Leo's right, fiddling with her dagger the way she did when confused or upset. Standing behind her was Annabeth.

I kept my gaze fixed on Leo. His head had a turban of clean, white bandages and though his smile was weak and his eyes tired; he radiated life. My ribcage swelled with pride for him. He'd never been one to go for the fights but he'd willingly ignored that distaste because I'd been leading the boarding party. To top it all off; he'd probably been the one to save us all. If I'd ever doubted Leo's loyalty—and yes, I _had _done that when he'd recounted what had happened during Percy's quest for Achilles—now was the time to wipe the slate clean. No person would leave behind something so beloved (in this case, the _Argo II_) just to prove a point so thoroughly.

'Hey man,' I smiled, settling down to Hazel, 'I'm glad you're okay.'

Leo gave an affected shrug, 'nothing stops the rockalanche. Though...' he winced as he patted the bandages, 'I feel like Ma Gasket played skittles with my head.'

I grinned, 'you should be okay in a few days, I think. Then again, you've always been crazy so maybe we won't see much of a change.'

Leo rolled his eyes at my weak joke. 'Really appreciate the support, Jason.'

A comfortable silence followed his words, and I reminded myself that I'd come with a clear objective in mind. There was no point keeping Leo from his rest just to exchange pleasantries. Then again, I hadn't counted on Annabeth showing up—her presence was going to make the next conversation a little difficult.

Leo's free hand began to tap rhythms against his thigh and his gaze turned unusually serious. 'Oh, I've been meaning to ask, is Percy okay?'

Over the bed, I met Annabeth's eye for a fraction of a second. Then I moved past her and found Max Keenan, still hovering near Percy's bed. Since he hadn't come to brief me, I'd assumed there had been no change.

'He's resting,' I said finally, a little ashamed of the lie I had no choice but to resort to, 'we think he got knocked out because he over did it. Like that time with the sub.'

Leo nodded in understanding. 'He said he would try and hold the explosion back but...' a frown creased Leo's forehead, 'we didn't exactly have the time to iron out the details.'

Deciding to take my cue from there, I eased my question in, 'about that, Leo, er... what exactly happened down in the gun deck?'

Leo flushed a little under the weight of everyone's gaze but he looked down at Hazel's hand and that seemed to give him strength. 'I sort of had an idea... about what to do with the pirates once they, you know, became zombies.'

I waited, remembering him shouting "_cannons!" _at me, as though that had been supposed to make perfect sense.

'It was a stupid idea,' Leo conceded, 'but we didn't have time for a better one and...' his voice caught a little and he looked up, over Piper's head, 'I swear Annabeth, I didn't think Percy would get hurt.'

Annabeth's stony expression didn't change. Her grey eyes held a spot somewhere on the far wall. With a soft sigh she turned away, 'I'm not blaming you Leo. No one is.'

'In fact,' I hastened to add, 'you're the one who saved our lives. You're the hero, man.'

Leo's shoulders straightened at my comment and he shot a glance at Hazel—a glance which was returned with a mixture of amusement and pride.

'Right, anyway,' Leo's tone grew stronger, 'I remembered the pirate ship having cannons and I figured, something's going to have to power those cannons, right?' He raised his eyebrows pointedly.

In a flash, I understood.

'_You _set off the explosion?'

Some of Leo's temporary bravado dissipated. 'It was supposed to be controlled! Then... circumstances changed.'

And there was the crux of the matter. But I couldn't just hook into with everything I had. Appearances had to be maintained. Frank and Hazel especially, were still loyal to Percy and I had no desire to divide the seven of us into two groups of warring teenagers. My control over the _Argo II's _crew was tenacious at best.

Carefully, I appeared to think over the words. 'So you went down the hatchway to light a fuse to the stored gunpowder. That makes sense—but why'd you take Percy with you?'

Again, Leo wilted under the question. 'I figured... well, it was either you or him, and no offence Jason, but we were on a ship in the middle of the ocean.'

Even though that stung, I let it slide. 'What happened?'

Leo's jaw tightened and he raised his free hand to rub his head. 'I thought it'd only take me a couple of minutes, but then the Captain interrupted us.' Leo grimaced, 'and Captain Davy Jones fights worse than a cat on meth.'

A loud cough came from behind me, followed by Frank's incredulous tone. '_That _guy was Davy Jones? Like _the _Davy Jones?'

'The same.' Leo confirmed, smiling just a little, 'and yes, he calls his ship the _Flying Dutchman.'_

'Oh my gods.' Frank closed his eyes, shaking his head in wonder. When he opened them, he had an expression of grudging respect on his face. 'I admit; it's pretty cool you fought Davy Jones.'

I caught Piper's eye and smiled. To my surprise (and utter relief) she grinned back.

'I'm sorry,' Hazel looked at each of us in confusion, 'but why is this Davy Jones such an important figure?'

And that was all the incentive Leo needed. Before anyone could react, he'd already launched into the rendition of _Dead Man's Chest, _supplementing it with back story from the previous movie. Faced with such an onslaught of information, Hazel's eye grew wider and wider and I didn't miss the plea she sent my way as Leo used both hands to display tentacles attached to his face.

'So he's playing the piano, right?' Leo wiggled his fingers enthusiastically, nearly poking Hazel in the eye, 'and Will Turner creeps in and wait till he falls asleep and—'

'—and I'm sure you can fill in Hazel later.' I interrupted when Leo paused for breath. 'Meanwhile, you were fighting Jones of the gun deck of his ship.'

Leo sighed, surrendering his retelling for the moment. 'Yeah, about that. I was trying to set up the fuse. The Captain seemed to have, I dunno, a vendetta against Percy or something. They went straight for each other.'

I frowned at the new piece of information. Even during the boarding, the Captain had singled out Percy from the rest of us, leaving the fighting of the crew to the First Mate. What could that possibly mean?

'It was a little difficult at first,' Leo continued, oblivious to my frustrated silence, 'but I got the wire and timer down. The cannons were tied up in a line and the gunpowder just below them. All I had to do was light it—get Percy—and run.'

Leo stopped, eyes squinting, trying to remember. 'And that's when it happened.'

'What happened?' Hazel, Piper and I asked in unison.

Leo darted a quick glance at Annabeth. 'Davy Jones. Percy had him on the edge of Riptide and then he–Davy Jones that is–said something. I don't know what—I didn't hear it, but Percy _did_, and he...' Leo swallowed, 'he froze.'

'He _froze_?' I repeated, unable to believe that an all powerful son of the Sea god, right at home in his element, holding the Curse of Achilles and veteran of at least seven quests had paused half way through a fight.

'Percy just stopped.' Leo said, 'and Davy Jones, using the opening, knocked him aside and came after me.'

A tense silence hung in the air. Hazel, Frank and Leo obviously thought that something outward had happened to Percy for him to fail at such a crucial moment. Piper, Annabeth and I knew better. I sent a worried glance to Percy's bed, not reassured by the grim figure Max Keenan cut over it. Still no change.

A shuffling of feet broke the stillness. I turned around; ready to snap at whoever it was, to come later. There would be no other witnesses to this conversation, aside from the five of us.

Jake Mason, looking rather apologetic, stood at the door.

'Sorry, sorry,' he muttered, taking in my expression, 'but Annabeth said she wanted to take a look at the Comm. tower.' Jake chewed his lip, 'we've brought it down now, so I thought I'd come call.'

Annabeth didn't say anything. She examined Leo for a moment, again without any significant change in appearance, then got to her feet and wordlessly signalled Jake to follow her. The door shut softly behind them.

Leo fidgeted with his covers, 'she's mad at me isn't she?'

'No_,' _I said at once, not missing the shaky tone and all the emotion it conveyed, 'trust me Leo, she's not mad at you.' _She's mad at herself, _I thought sadly, _and probably me. The gods know, I deserve it. _

'What happened to the Comm. tower?' Piper asked, before Frank and Hazel joined Leo and raised some very demanding questions that I didn't want to answer.

I nodded at Piper, grateful for the shift in attention. 'We'd almost got it working again but now the top deck's basically inaccessible so we're shifting it.'

Leo's eyes brightened—as they usually did when the conversation revolved around his beloved ship. 'Is Nyssa there?' He asked eagerly, 'we'd worked on some adjustments yesterday so maybe it can get done tonight.'

My throat contracted, and for a moment, I wanted to melt into the floor and drift away forever. Ears burning, I took a deep breath. 'No, Jake's in charge of it. Nyssa got, um, hurt... in the battle.'

'Oh.' Leo's eyes narrowed, 'what happened to her?'

'Broken collarbone.' Piper responded, making it the second time she'd saved my skin in as many minutes. 'We put her into a cast—she should be fine.'

Leo didn't say anything, but I got the feeling that this was the first time he'd realized the consequences of boarding the pirate ship. He'd never had much family to begin with, and even though he wasn't particularly close to his siblings, he did look out for them. Plus he'd hung out with Nyssa a lot more than the others, during the months they'd toiled away, building the _Argo II _from scratch.

I cleared my throat, desperate to not broach the topic of any more injuries. 'So where were we? You said Davy Jones knocked aside Percy and came after you.'

'Yeah,' Leo's tone was considerably quieter now. 'I tried to hold him off—but Jones shoved me into the cannons and I hit my head.' Leo rubbed at his bandages, 'Next thing I knew, the entire deck was flooding and Sherman was trying to untie me.'

This part, at least I was familiar with. 'Sherman and I came back for you,' I explained, 'when we broke in Jones was choking Percy, so I sent Sherman to get you out and tried to help Percy.'

'Hold on.' Frank came around to take Annabeth's previous position, behind Piper. 'Percy has the Curse—doesn't that make him invulnerable against punches and stuff?'

Leo and I exchanged a worried glance. That was another factor which showed that the pirates had been more than prepared for us. Another mistake I could chalk up to my building pile.

'Imperial Gold,' I reminded the others softly, 'the Captain had gloves made of them. And a sword. And yes,' I forestalled Hazel's next question, 'he was the only one.'

An unsettling silence took hold of the others. I could see the inevitable question forming in all of their eyes: _why _had the _Argo II _decided to go after the pirates in the first place? Even Frank –who was, in some rights, the perfect soldier– had his head cocked to one side, watching me with a troubled gaze. I almost wanted to give them a reason, but couldn't bring myself into saying that I'd operated on a gut feeling, confident that it was the right decision because of Percy's backing.

'Anyway,' my leg gave a sudden, painful throb, and I had to force the word out through gritted teeth, 'the Captain jumped me as I was holding on to Percy and Sherman came to help so... what happened to you during all of it?'

Leo blinked tiredly. 'I thought of lighting the fuse but somewhere during the struggle the timer had broken. So I started to fix it. But then...'

'...but then the Captain cut away one of the cannons,' I nodded, getting a clearer picture now of all the chaos that had happened during the furious struggle.

'Yeah.' Leo said, 'and the entire fuse tore apart with it. And suddenly, you and Sherman weren't there anymore so Davy Jones decided to he was going to finish the job with me.'

I winced. 'Sherman and I got sucked out. We tried to swim back, but the currents...'

I stopped, there was no point in more excuses. What was done was done. I'd screwed up; it was time to accept it and move on.

'So what saved you?' Piper prompted.

Leo gave a ghost of a grin and I was glad to see it looked somewhat like his trademark crazy one. 'Who else, but Percy? The guy appeared from nowhere, slammed into Davy Jones and took him straight into the water. It was _awesome._'

I couldn't help but glance across at Percy's bed. So he had come through in the end. That was a relief.

'I went back to making a fuse,' Leo continued, some of his weariness showing in tone, 'but the water had made the gunpowder wet. There were literally two boxes of the stuff left. I didn't know what to do.'

This would have been the time Sherman and I had been winging it back to the _Argo II, _I realized. So somewhere between us getting thrown out into the ocean and making it on to the ship, Leo had devised an incredibly clever way to burn wet gunpowder.

'What did you do?' I asked, quite impressed by his skill.

But Leo shook his head. '_I _didn't do anything. Percy surfaced and I managed to convey the problem to him. Unfortunately, Davy Jones surfaced too.' Leo made a frustrated sound in his throat, 'that guy just doesn't die.'

Hazel squeezed Leo's hand, and handed him a glass of water, encouraging him to drink. Across the bed, I saw Frank glower for a moment, before he schooled his features into a polite mask. Just what I needed—more of my crew mad at each other.

Leo put the glass down, his arm trembling with the effort of keeping it up. Rubbing his face, we went on. 'I think Jones must have realized what we were trying to do because he started after my fuse. Percy and I managed to stop him just in time—and that's when Percy told me to do it.'

'Do what?'

'Light the fuse.'

I frowned, 'but the gunpowder—'

'—was wet, yeah.' Leo nodded, 'but Percy created some sort of air bubble to compensate. The trouble was he couldn't hold it for very long—he was exhausted and fighting the crazy Captain—so I took off the timer and lit the fuse anyway.'

Frank and I exchanged a glance and I knew we were thinking the same thing: only Greeks could have done something so self sacrificing and so incredibly idiotic. Hazel and Piper, however, looked rather impressed.

Leo sat up, working the kinks out of his shoulders. 'When I came to, both of us were floating in the sea. I tried to help Percy, but I uh, can't swim...and then a dolphin came.'

Leo paused, to take another sip of water, until something struck him and he shifted his ever widening gaze to Frank. 'Oh my gods, _you _were the dolphin! You can change into a dolphin! How?!'

Frank looked at the floor, muttering, 'it's a long story.'

'Man, that's so _insane_.' Leo shook his head in amazement and settled back against the pillows. I knew he was itching to whip out a notebook and start working on the physics of it but Frank's expression was less than inviting.

'And that's it I guess.' Leo paused, frowning a little, 'except, wait, did I—did I have something stuck in my head?'

The speed at which I communicated the message across to the others (and the speed at which they understood it) kind of made me glow with pride a little. Sure the seven of us had our own factions, but we were all bound by the Prophecy, and that sometimes helped during the collective thought process.

That, or I just was _really _good at shaking my head without moving it too much.

'Don't know what you're talking about.' I told Leo, as Hazel and Piper chimed in with their negatives and fake surprise over where such a question had come from. Even Frank managed a "you must be hallucinating" scowl which I decided to let pass. Boys would be boys and all that.

After a few minutes of Leo demanding us all to be straight with him, I got to my feet painfully, determined to let him rest now since he needed it so much and I'd got the answer to my questions. (And okay, maybe to avoid his suspicious questions of why he had a head bandage if he had nothing stuck in his head.) Leo _seemed _fine at any rate; his version of events fit mine, and though I was going to corroborate his story with Percy's (whenever he woke up) I had a feeling that there would be no changes.

'I'll see you in the morning.' I clapped his shoulder and stepped away, 'try and get some sleep.'

I left the others to say their goodbyes and headed across the room to Max, who'd been sitting in the same spot, wearing a rather moody expression, ever since Webber had left half an hour ago. I nearly asked what the problem was, but I'd had enough fights in the day and just wanted to go back to my cabin.

'Max.'

He looked up and gave me a perfunctory salute. 'Captain.'

I indicated to Percy's still, but alive form on the bed next to us. 'Any idea when he's going to wake up?'

Max's eyebrows came closer together till he looked positively ghoulish. 'Not a clue. This Curse of Achilles that he has—I don't know how it works. I think we'll just have to wait.'

I sighed. Percy's chest rose and fell at regular intervals and his sleeping face had no lines or wrinkles on it. He seemed at peace, and part of me wondered if he would even want to wake up, knowing what was waiting for him at the other end.

'I want to know as soon as he sits up,' I told Max, making sure there was no room for error; the sooner I got to Percy, the better, 'I don't care what time it is or what scans you have to perform—you _will _inform me. Understand?'

Max's jaw tightened. 'Perfectly.'

'Good.' I rubbed my eyes again, checking on the columns of sleeping demigods in front of me. Then, as shame battled its way up my throat, I turned away and limped out of the infirmary.

* * *

Throughout the walk back to my cabin, I wrestled with what I was going to say to the injured the next morning. An apology—and what? _Sorry guys, I screwed up, hope you can forgive me? _I snorted at the thought, ascending to my level. Yeah, that would go down brilliantly.

But I did _have _to say something to them. It was necessary. To stop resentment from building up, and yeah, maybe for my own peace of mind. I decided to keep it simple. They'd known the risks while volunteering—they would understand.

I came to a stop near Piper's cabin, eyes adjusting to the low light of the corridor. Sitting against the closed door was Annabeth, the terrible light making her face seem pale and sick. She was hunched over, one cheek flat against her knees and her arms drawn tightly around—a classic defensive posture.

She looked up, hearing my footsteps, and all thoughts of what I'd say to the crew fled from my head. Annabeth had been _crying. _I could make out the tear tracks easily, under the glare of the LED tubes and the sight knocked the wind out of my lungs.

I had never seen her cry. Not _once_.

Annabeth held my gaze for a moment and once again, the depth of emotions I saw startled me. Then, with a flip of a switch, she closed off and got to her feet.

I didn't have a clear idea of what to say. I was still angry at her, but my remarks of her not caring had been, perhaps, unjustified. In her own subtle way she _did _care. She just didn't make a great show about it, secure in her beliefs. Because that was the kind of person she was. Silent till provoked; distant till engaged. I opened my mouth.

'Annabeth—'

'I'll be on the Bridge if you need me.' She cut me off, tone cool and collected, already moving away to climb the ladder to the next level.

If it hadn't been for my leg I would have chased after her, but because of the long step I took, my leg flared and the muscle slackened, sending me tumbling to the ground with a surprised yelp.

Annabeth didn't look back.


	15. Chapter 15

**A/N: Update day! In other news, perspective will change in the next chapter. I dare say you guys are sick of Jason by now. Thanks for the reviews!**

* * *

**15) Until Eventually, I Burn Out.**

**Jason-III.**

I didn't sleep well.

Aside from the multiple injuries I had, and the worries of what new problems daylight would bring, a strong disconnect resonated within me. Somewhere along the way –ever since Hera had kindly dropped me off into the school bus near the Grand Canyon without any memories– I'd lost sight of the path I'd been trying to tread. I didn't know what it was, or if I'd ever been committed to it, but the knowledge that I'd been interrupted, bothered me immensely.

Have you ever felt that moment when you walk into a room and suddenly, you can't seem to remember what you came for? It was like that for me, except every waking moment I had –fighting or talking or dreaming– was filled with the unease of an incomplete action.

Frustrated, I paced the length of my cabin; trying to ignore the annoying throb of my injured leg and the gaping hole that was usually Leo's irritating remarks. Moonlight shone through the uncovered portholes, and when I paused to take in the view, the dappled radiance across heaving waves impressed me just a little. The ocean could be beautiful but deadly. Just like notion of power. Being the son of Jupiter had instilled me with a very strong respect for position, but now I was beginning to wonder if it was worth it.

Yawning, I lay back down on my bed, waiting for sleep to take hold of me. In the hours that followed I hovered between that thin line of REM sleep and half-consciousness. A laughing face invaded my dreams; dirty blonde haired and roguish, as though he'd just got the idea to play a dirty prank on someone who was annoying him.

I didn't know who he was, but his importance was obvious. And for all the apparent likability, something threw me off about him. Something... sinister lurked underneath the boyish charm, warning me away.

By the time I woke up, I couldn't remember the details to his face.

* * *

The morning sunlight mocked my irritated frame of mind, so I grabbed my breakfast and headed straight for the Bridge. Activity around the rest of the _Argo II _had diminished, and most of the crew were either gathered at the infirmary or asleep in their bunks.

Aside from a glimpse of Liam conversing with someone beyond my line of sight, I didn't catch any other signs of life. Empty corridors stretched in front and behind me, but the silence wasn't the tranquil kind. There was a certain charge in the air, exactly like as though the _Argo II _was holding its breath, waiting for some other misfortune to strike it down.

In our dilapidated state, I fervently hoped not.

The Bridge, with its reassuring routine, had only Anthony Webber manning the stations. I resisted asking why there wasn't another sailor, at least at the radar, and returned the quick salute he gave me.

'Any problems?' I asked.

Anthony glanced over the screens in front of him. 'None that need our immediate attention, Captain. Comm. is coordinating with the Lena for tuning the tower.'

Trying not to show my relief, I chomped down on my breakfast. 'How long will that take?'

Anthony shrugged, 'a couple of hours I think. She didn't say.'

I finished chewing through the rest of my donut in silence. Plans had to be made and things needed to be changed. The entire Watch roster had to be reset; the quick-fix one I'd made the day before had some serious flaws. I also needed to check with Leo to see if the bronze plating could be reattached. It wouldn't do to be ill prepared for a threat just because we'd already been beaten down. If Gaia wanted to defeat us, she was going to have to battle every last demigod to win. I wasn't going to give up till then and I wasn't going to let anyone else give up either.

Anthony's chair creaked as he swivelled it around to face mine. 'Excuse me, Captain?'

I brushed the stray crumbs off my shirt, still deep in thought. 'Yeah?'

'I was wondering if I may share a few observations with you.'

Anthony's polite tone made me look up. His posture was correct as always; head held high but bowed deferentially to me. His eyes however, contained a gleam I didn't quite like. Something I'd seen every time I talked to Liam, something bordering on disrespect. Automatically, I felt myself stiffen.

'Go ahead, Lieutenant.'

He waited out the appropriate amount of time before saying, 'given the state of our crew, would it not be wise to... change our plans, sir?'

Clearly all the time Webber had spent away from his best bud Octavian hadn't impacted in the way he spoke at all. His words carried all the innocence of a dual sword wielding assassin, even if they were under the guise of an adorable puppy. Thankfully I'd played the game long enough to know that being blunt worked wonders too.

'Get to the point, Lieutenant.'

Anthony's fixed smile wavered a little. 'I'm merely suggesting that we need to make amends to the current objective.'

'Which is?' I asked, keeping my tone as pleasant as his.

'This journey to...' Anthony hesitated, not wanting to say the name, 'to Mount Vesu...vius. It would be prudent if we took a break from the efforts to reach there with such haste.'

I raised an exaggerated eyebrow. 'In case you haven't noticed Lieutenant, we're in the middle of an ocean. We can't just _stop_.'

Aside from the slight tightening of his jaw, Anthony showed no other reaction to my heavy sarcasm. 'I'm aware of that sir, but you know the legends about the Mediterranean... it's an _old _sea, a dangerous sea—the Romans lost many a battle on its waters.'

I didn't say anything, wanting Webber to show all his cards before committing myself to a decision. I'd paid the price of a quick decision once already; I wasn't going to make the same mistake twice.

'My point, sir,' Anthony said, 'is that we should make a pit-stop before approaching the mountain. Recuperate from our losses. Reconsider... our choices.'

For a minute, the steady beep of machines was the only sound on the Bridge. I looked, for all part, to be giving grave thought to his opinions, but in reality I was seething. The dissent had already started in the crew and I didn't know how far it had spread. If people were starting to think they could just back out of the voyage, I was in serious trouble.

'I understand your concerns Lieutenant,' I said in a measured tone, standing up to drive home the authority I carried, 'but we are in no position to "take a break" from this quest. People—_the gods_—are depending on us. We have suffered drawbacks, yes, but in true Roman spirit we shall soldier on.'

Anthony's eyes narrowed, unimpressed. 'The rest of the crew is not bound to a prophecy, as you are, Captain.'

I gripped the headrest of my chair, not allowing the irritation to show on my face. The situation demanded delicacy.

'No they aren't,' judging by Webber's reaction, my smile came out a little steelier than expected, 'and I cherish their loyalty for sticking by me.'

Anthony chewed over that, in frustrated silence. There was nothing else he could say, without overstepping the rules that had beaten into him as a Roman: _do not question your superiors more than once. _I mentally congratulated myself on handling the questions so well, and turned away, intending to call down to Comm. and check on the progress of the tower. My hand fell short of the switch when I looked through the window, and saw the unmistakable figure of Percy Jackson, leaning against the starboard railing.

I rounded on Anthony. 'How long has he been standing there?!'

Anthonynoted the anger in my voice and allowed the briefest of smirks to appear on his face. 'Around half an hour or so, sir.'

I took an unintentional step forward, and Webber backed away in response.

'Orders were given,' I said, trying to keep the menace in my voice to a minimum, 'to inform me when Percy Jackson woke up. _Why _were they not carried out?'

For all of Anthony's supposed bravado I didn't miss the flicker of wariness in his otherwise impassive expression, or the way his hand had moved to the _pugio _strapped to his waist.

'I don't know, sir. I wasn't aware of such orders.'

His tone was too bland to read anything into. Then again, what could he have possibly gained by not telling me that Percy had woken up? Webber was a great one for mind games (he learnt from the master of course) but only when he had an objective in mind. Cross examining him would only lead to more surliness on his part and I didn't want another exchange of veiled threats. Besides, the need to get to Percy won out against chasing down every conspiracy theory I had.

Snapping at Webber to find Max Keenan and demand an explanation, I wrenched the door of the Bridge open and pounded down the stairs, already dreading how my next conversation was going to go.

* * *

For a guy who'd been dumped, sliced, suffocated, and blown up, all in less than twenty four hours, Percy looked remarkably well. I'd imagined him waking up confused and disoriented, maybe even missing a few memories, but right now, with the right angle he could have pulled off the "at peace tourist on a cruise ship" without a problem. He had his head tipped back and eyes closed, taking in the sun with obvious happiness.

I almost didn't want to initiate discussion over what had happened the day before, but my sense of duty couldn't be swayed.

I sidled up to Percy, striving to appear casual. ''Morning.'

His eyes snapped open and he moved a quick step to his left in what appeared to be a purely reflexive manoeuvre, before realizing who had sneaked up on him.

'Oh, it's you. Hey.'

I noticed how his shoulders didn't relax and filed it away for future use.

'Good to see you awake, though I'm a little surprised to find you here.'

Percy shrugged, ruffling his hair back with one hand as he stared out into the sea with somewhat brooding intent. 'I wanted some fresh air.'

'Ah.' I shifted from one foot to another, puzzled by his curtness. It's not like _I'd _gone out with him for a year and then broken up with him for no reason. 'So, um, how're you feeling?'

Even though Percy's mouth curved into a perfectly qualified smile, his eyes remained distant. 'I had a headache earlier. Fine now.'

I licked my lips and forced myself to take the cue he'd unknowingly offered me. It was either that or continue to play out a one sentence conversation with him. Both, I must say, were rather unappealing options.

'I meant, uh, emotionally.'

The shoulders tensed some more and Percy's smile changed into a strange mixture of bitterness and humour. 'You... heard about that?'

'You know how these things work,' I said, attempting to steer the conversation into more light hearted waters (Percy's acute defensive stance was worrying me a little,) 'gossip with teenagers' moves faster than a hungry Hannibal heading for the mess hall.'

(Which was complete bullshit by the way, since the only people who knew what had happened between Percy and Annabeth, _aside_ from Percy and Annabeth, were me and Piper, and neither of us had attempted to tell anyone else.)

'Yeah, well.' Percy sighed, not sounding as annoyed as I'd expected him to be, 'it's no big deal. We're sixteen—or well _I _am at any rate. Stuff like this isn't supposed to last forever.'

Despite his nonchalant attitude, I couldn't miss the undercurrent: _ though I kind of hoped it would, _and that more than anything else pushed me to try and be a little sympathetic—one emotion I just did not know how to project.

'Do you, uh, want to... talk about it?'

'I'd rather not actually.'

Vastly relieved, and suddenly wanting to get the unpleasantness over with, I changed my line of questioning.

'There's something else I wanted to ask though.'

'Sure.'

I tried my best to not feel guilty and failed miserably. I was literally going to kick a friend when he was at his lowest. But this _had _to be done. Delaying would only cause problems further down the line. I could however, for the sake of my well being and his, soften the blow a little bit.

'Leo told me about what happened down in the gun deck. You basically saved the day.'

Percy's bitter smile reappeared. 'It seems like the _only_ thing I'm good at these days.'

Carefully, I sidestepped that particular minefield. After all he'd said he didn't want to talk about it! I was only following his direction.

'You did have some problems though.' I paused, gauging his expression before adding, 'with the Captain.'

Percy frowned, seeming, by the looks of things, genuinely confused about what I was driving at. 'Davy Jones fought well. And he had that Imperial Gold sword.'

'No I meant,' Taking a deep breath, I plunged right in, 'he said something to you and you... froze.'

The strangest thing happened: Percy froze. In real time. He went rigid, as though a wild socket inside him had tripped a wire and electricity was coursing through his body, rendering him immobile.

'How... do you know that?' He asked eventually, and every word he said seemed to be coming from a great distance away.

Worried, I laid a hand on his shoulder. 'Leo told me. Are you okay man?'

'I'm great.' Percy shifted away, making sure my hand dropped away. 'I'm absolutely _great._'

Silence fell. A crosswind blew, ruffling our clothes and the sun continued to shine brightly, not getting the memo that things were _not _happy and cheerful anymore.

Several minutes passed before I found the strength to push through. 'Percy, I don't want to ask you this, but I need to know what Davy Jones said to you.'

'Why?' Percy demanded, squaring off, 'it won't happen again.'

I frowned, not liking the stubborn edge that had crept into his tone. 'I'm not saying it will. But shouldn't we be prepared if it does?'

Judging by Percy's narrowed eyes, being prepared for another freezing out wasn't the highest of his concerns at the moment. Too bad we weren't seeing eye to eye on this.

'Look at it this way,' I said, deciding to try the "reasonable with a dash of flattery" angle out for a change, 'you're our best fighter. We want to prevent horrible things from happening to you.'

In hindsight, it was obvious I needed to work on the flattery. I'd just sounded like Percy was a particularly favourable gun of mine that needed constant oiling and not the good friend and companion that had to be told to slow down occasionally. And I _did _think of him as a good friend and companion. I just didn't think of him as a very capable leader.

'I have the Curse of Achilles,' Percy muttered, in a rather half hearted manner, 'nothing's going to happen to me.'

I stopped myself from asking what he thought passing out for hours on end was. A little rest and recuperation? Jeez.

'The Curse isn't all protecting,' I pointed out, 'even aside from Imperial Gold weapons, if _anything _hits you in your mortal spot, you'll be dead in seconds. It was sheer luck that Jones didn't get you when you froze.'

Percy sighed, rubbing at his neck as he wrestled with the decision to spill the beans. I kept my impatience at bay; whatever had happened on that gun deck had had changed Percy's usual outlook on life. He looked beaten down—broken almost, as though he was at the end of his tether. Just like my previous conversation with Webber, this situation too, needed a delicate hand.

Percy's fingers curled around the railing, knuckles turning white under the pressure. 'He called me worthless.'

Blindsided by the pain in Percy's words, I fumbled to get my question out. 'He—who? Davy Jones called you worthless?'

Eyes closed, Percy turned his head away, and his whole body trembled with inner turmoil. To say I was confused would be an understatement. Hadn't Percy been kicked out of five schools? Wasn't he used to people insulting him all the time?

'We were fighting,' Percy turned his head away from me as though he couldn't bear to see my reaction, 'and I had the drop on him. And then he said it: _you're worthless, Jackson._'

Dimly, I recalled Jones saying the same thing to me, in between our struggle in the water. I still didn't get the significance of the words. Were they a code for something else?

'Um...' I searched around for a pleasant way to air my confusion, 'that wasn't nice of him to say.'

Percy lifted a hand to shove the hair off his forehead. 'You don't get it.'

'Get what?'

'What it meant!' Percy rounded on me, eyes open with suppressed anger. 'He said... _exactly_ what I'd been feeling. Inside me. I _am _worthless.'

Bewildered, I opened my mouth but had nothing to say. _What _was going on?

'Percy,' I worked around the loss of comprehension, 'you aren't worthless. You're the son of _Poseidon_! How could you possibly—?'

'She looked at me.' Percy interrupted, and by the angle of his head I couldn't tell if he was even aware of my presence anymore. 'She looked at me and told me it was over. Done. I didn't even get a say in—as though I'd just been along for the ride.' He inhaled sharply, 'just... worthless. Like five _years _of friendship never mattered. Like everything we did together—didn't, _never_—happened.'

I had a sudden urged to run away and get Piper. She knew how to handle such situations; I was completely clueless. What did one do? Pat the friend on the back and say "you just gotta move on, man?" Somehow, I didn't think Percy would quite appreciate that sentiment.

'And then Davy Jones...' A shudder ran through Percy's frame and he bowed his head over the railing, 'I couldn't breathe. Everything just... collapsed. I wanted to help Leo—tried desperately to help him—but I couldn't move.'

Percy stopped, and opened his eyes, which looked like green holes drilled into a cardboard cut out. His mouth twisted into a pained sneer and he glanced at me.

'So that's what Jones said to me, Jason. Are you happy now? Are you happy you _know _what a loser I am?'

I stiffened at the assumption, forgetting to be sympathetic in the face of such a personal affront. 'I may have a lot of opinions about you Percy, but I don't think you're a loser.'

He snorted and pushed back from the railing. 'Whatever.'

Once again I had to contain my flash of irritation. What had I done to warrant such disdain? I got that he'd had a rough time over the last day, but that didn't give him a free pass to treat everyone around him like dirt. Plus, I'd been nothing but supportive throughout the conversation. What gave Percy the right to behave like such a child? Did he think the rest of us didn't have relationship problems either? Sulking was allowed—but not in the middle of a war. He just had to suck it up like the rest of us.

'Are you just going to keep standing there?' Percy demanded, 'or do you want to know what Annabeth said to me as well?'

Ignoring the deliberate bait, I decided to focus on getting done with my objective so I could leave as soon as possible. My concerns were now justified; past events proved that Percy couldn't be relied on to keep a level head during moments of crisis.

'Just one more thing I wanted to run by you,' I said, hoping that Percy would be smart enough to realize his own weakness and not make me spell it out for him, 'given what's happened recently, I think it would be smart to scrap the rotating Captainship.'

For a moment, Percy was so surprised that he forgot to be pissed off. 'What? Why?'

Taking a moment, I chose my next words carefully. 'Well, Percy, you're angry and bitter and hurting... and you need time to heal.' I shrugged, 'just think of it as time off.'

'Wait a second,' Percy frowned, 'you're saying _I _shouldn't be Captain?'

'Temporarily.' I hastened to add, 'you know, to give you some space. Make sure you don't...' Trailing off, I kicked myself for starting down such a line. Unfortunately, Percy pounced on it before I had the chance to change topics.

'Make sure I don't screw up?' He finished, the angry glint back in his eye. 'Make sure I don't do something stupid?'

Uncomfortable to have the proper meaning of my words brought out in the open, I spread my hands. 'Well... yeah.'

'I see.' Percy's understanding nod didn't fool me one bit. His shoulders were like rigid statue structures and his jaw looked like it'd been carved from granite.

'So...' He said, after a moment, 'how do you figure I'm going to screw up?'

Aggression underlined his words, warning me that I was stepping into a dangerous argument. Between the mourning of the end of his relationship and the guilt he'd be feeling about Leo, Percy was extremely volatile. I felt like a minesweeper, alone and outnumbered, in a vast, hostile territory.

'Percy you just—you make things personal, okay?' I sighed, 'I'm just trying to prevent the consequences of that.'

'Oh.' He said, with false nonchalance, 'well if _you _think I'm unstable then I really must be, huh?'

Despite my best efforts, the implied accusation slipped under my skin, itching like a day old scab. 'What's that supposed to mean?'

'You know...' Percy shrugged, 'you're the son of Jupiter. Your word is law. And just like your _dad, _you can't seem to take responsibility for your own actions.'

In the ominous silence that followed, a spark jumped down my spine, waiting to be released. With great difficulty I pushed it back, willing the air gathering around me to dissipate. Losing my temper would not do.

'I _do_ take responsibility for my own actions.' My voice shook with the effort to keep the volume down, 'and I'm not denying I screwed up yesterday. The thing is, so did you.'

Percy stared at me and then burst into laughter, a horrible sarcastic sound. 'Me? _Me?_ I dunno Jason, I seem to remember _you _wanting to go after the pirates in the first place.'

'But you agreed!' I exclaimed, 'and just like all the other times, you took a decision about the _Argo II _and made it about yourself.'

'Is that so?' Percy drawled, 'well if the son of Jupiter says so, then it must be true.'

'You couldn't blow the submarine up!' I snapped, forcing the air away from my sides, 'because _you_ couldn't handle the guilt. You nearly went after Annabeth when we fought the Sea Monster because _you _couldn't see past her safety, and yesterday,' I paused to take a breath, feeling exhilarated that all the frustration building up inside me was being let out, 'you wanted to take a swing at the pirates because Annabeth disagreed with _you_. Everything is _always _about _you_, Jackson.'

A murderous expression crossed Percy's face and I tensed, ready to pull the air to action if needed. A long minute passed, where the sun shone down and neither of us moved. My hand itched to go for my replacement sword, but my self control held out. Just when I thought Percy was about to move, he relaxed and I distinctly felt the _Argo II _dip a little into the sea.

'Fine, Jason. You want one Captain?' Percy's smirk just a little too stretched to be genuine, 'we can have one Captain. But here's a thought: maybe we should let the crew decide who they want.'

A cold pit formed in my stomach and Webber's stony face flashed in front of my eyes. 'That's not how it works.'

'Well, maybe not in _Rome,_' Percy's grin mirrored the one Liam used whenever he had to instigate someone, 'but we Greeks are known for our democracy. Let the crew vote between the two of us, and decide who they want as Captain.'

Percy chuckled derisively, 'd'you want to be a Republican or a Democrat? I don't mind either.'

'This isn't funny.' I said through gritted teeth, even as the cold expanded in my stomach. I had difficulty identifying the feeling at first, because I was so unused to it: fear.

'I think it's hilarious.' Percy shrugged, 'and what makes it funnier is that you're _terrified_ of the voting system, because you think you'll lose... and you know what,' he stepped closer to me, invading my personal space and using the extra inch of height he had to good measure, 'you're right. Because, see Jason, nobody really likes you. You're just some guy who thinks he's the best 'cause his _daddy's _the big boss man.'

I blinked, remembering Piper turning away from me, just as I'd told her to stop waiting. Percy was right. I'd had one person who really cared and I'd pushed her away. The strength of the self disgust bubbling inside me, forced me to say something I really shouldn't have.

'Yeah, well Percy; at least I'm not _worthless._'

His eyes widened and all the put on humour vanished in an instant. In the split second that occurred, I saw the undercut coming my way as a blur of fingers. Percy's fist caught the edge of my jaw and the sheer force of the blow threw me off my feet and into the starboard railing. Percy was on me in the next moment, roaring in outrage and his fists connected with my chest.

I struggled to throw him off, desperate to get at my sword, but he was too heavy. Each punch brought on a new wave of agony, and with the tears streaming down my face; I could barely see what was happening. Seizing an opening I managed to pull out my sword half way, and clipped him on the shoulder with the hilt.

Snarling, he retaliated and the next second, pain exploded across my face as his knuckles found my nose. Confused yells followed, interspersed with gaps of air as I struggled to breathe.

'Percy, no! Stop! _Stop!'_

My head swam under the pounding it was receiving. Blood poured off my nose and into my mouth. Sweat and tears mixed together and for prolonged moments darkness enveloped my vision.

'Get off him you idiot! Get off!'

The blows abated. Coughing into the deck, I curled around into a foetal position, hunching forward to protect my vulnerable chest and head. My breath came in erratic gasps and I had to blink out the double vision to see what was going on.

Liam had Percy in a headlock, struggling to contain him from lashing out. Standing between them and me were a couple of legs in blue jeans, and by the blonde hair floating on top of it, I guessed Annabeth had come to my rescue.

'Jeez man, stop!' Liam shouted, pulling tighter, 'you've nearly killed him!'

That seemed to snap Percy out of the haze. He went limp in Liam's arms and the green, hate filled eyes, all the while focused on me, changed into dazed confusion. He panted into Liam's restricting arm, hands dropping to his sides as the full weight of what he'd done hit him.

I coughed out blood, running my tongue over my teeth to see how many broken.

Percy stared at me for a full minute, and the dawning horror in his eyes, though a little satisfying to see, hurt as badly as my broken nose and split lip.

Percy didn't make any more aggressive movements and after a couple more moments of being holding on to him, Liam let go. 'There. Feeling better now?'

Percy ignored him and took a hesitant step forward. Instantly Annabeth moved sideways, shifting into stance as her knife appeared in hand. Percy stopped, and for a brief moment, I thought he'd break down completely. He deflated before my eyes, and once again looked ten years older than he was. Nobody said a word—I was in too much pain, Liam was far too wary and Annabeth only watched. Eventually, Percy straightened up, pushed off Liam's hand and stalked away from us, heading off the main deck.

'Should I go after him?' Liam asked, after a moment.

'Not unless you want your nose broken again.' Annabeth answered. She turned to me, and I had to squint to see past my rapidly swelling cheeks. For someone who'd been yelled at, and blamed for a major defeat, Annabeth didn't seem to be holding grudges, for which, I was eternally grateful.

Then again, her expression, as she stared down at me, wasn't welcoming in the slightest.

'Get up.' She grasped my arm and pulled me upright, ignoring my groans of protest. 'We need to get you to the infirmary.'

* * *

Between them, Annabeth and Liam hauled me down to the infirmary as one might take a tortured prisoner to freedom. If I hadn't been in so much pain, I might have felt a little awkward since I'd never liked Liam, and my issues with Annabeth had been left unresolved, but all of that took a backseat when I had to concentrate on not allowing my dizziness to turn into nausea. During the last third of the journey I found my legs and stumbled along, determined not to be dragged in front of half my crew like some broken ragdoll.

At the door of the infirmary Annabeth dismissed Liam, telling him to "go do something useful." While I'd have ordinarily supported her decision, Liam's absence meant that I had to rely more on my own legs and Annabeth's grasp around my arm—more painful than supporting. Ignoring all the conversation that ceased as soon as we made entrance, she pulled me down the room and threw me into the last bed without so much as a "feel better."

'Keenan.' Annabeth turned away, snapping her fingers, 'do something about this.'

Max shuffled over, his frown at being treated like a bellboy deepening once he caught sight of my face. '... Captain? Did something attack the ship?'

I groaned and gestured to my bloody nose in response. Did he have to keep staring at me like that?

Thankfully Annabeth –even though I wasn't her favourite person at the moment– understood my plight and she drew the curtains around my bed, stepping out to give me some privacy. Max –in between ogling my squashed face and muttering about never catching a break– pulled out a strip of tape and a wedge of ambrosia.

'Your nose is broken, Captain.'

I glared at him. 'I dow.'

'I know a quick fix,' he continued, ignoring my sarcasm, 'but it'll hurt.'

I reached up and wiped clotted blood off my lip, wanting nothing more than to shoot myself up with anesthesia and go to sleep for like the next ten years so I didn't have to keep dealing with things, literally, blowing up in my face all the time.

'Just do it.'

Max handed me the ambrosia which I shoved into my mouth. Then, without any prior warning, he gave my nose a quick twist and stuck the tape into place. I howled into his hands, eyes streaming, as pain shot up my nasal cavity and my head pounded. I coughed out the rest of my blood in my mouth when it opened to take in some air.

'There.' Max surveyed his work, wearing his habitually annoyed expression, 'Now all we need is to clean you up.' He plonked down a basin of water mixed with nectar and pulled out a spotless white cloth, which I almost felt bad for staining so irreparably.

Max's deft movements got rid of most of the blood but throughout the process, I had to keep my teeth gritted, refusing to make a sound. My chest hurt, as though Hannibal had trampled over it. Even my injured leg gave a half hearted twinge, reminding me that it, too, wasn't in the best of shape.

The curtain on my right yanked aside and a familiar face appeared.

'What's happening—oh my _gods, _Jason!'

Max cleared his throat and glanced between Piper and me with mild interest. I prayed that he'd just ignore her like he did everyone else but he wore a rather expectant expression—as though waiting for one of us to jump into each other's arms. After nobody spoke for well over half a minute, (Piper seemed to be wrestling with her ability to air her views) Max gave up and put down his implements, feigning business by looking at his watch.

'Excuse me, Captain, I'm needed elsewhere.'

He offered Piper a polite smile and stepped out, leaving me to curse him out in my head for the second time in twelve hours. Why did he _always _leave me alone with Piper? If I didn't know better, I'd have thought he had some interest in our relationship, like one of those obsessed—what were they called again?—shippers.

Seconds after Max departed, Annabeth slid in, grey eyes narrowed in irritation.

'Annabeth.' Piper recovered enough, to inject incredulity into her words, 'Why'd you call me down here? And what happened to him?' She jerked her thumb at me.

Annabeth's cool gaze swept over me, contempt billowing off her in waves. 'Jason and Percy decided to try and kill each other today.' She paused to let that sink in as Piper made a choked sound of disbelief, 'I'm hoping you can get through to him, because the gods know, I can't.'

Piper tried to protest, but Annabeth stepped away, closing the curtains as she, too, left. I continued to breathe through my mouth and stared at the floor, very aware, as usual, of Piper's presence. She looked a little shell-shocked by the situation she'd been thrust into and I pitied her for that more than anything else. I wasn't a big fan of getting jumped either.

'You don't have to stay.' I said, after the silence stretched on for another minute without any signs of abating.

Piper hesitated, wanting to take me up on the offer, but heaved a sigh and sat down on Max's vacated chair instead. 'You're a mess.'

Truer words had never been spoken.

'So what happened?' She prompted after another sizeable amount of time passed where neither of us spoke.

I tilted my head back and gestured to my bruised face. 'Got into a fight.'

'No really?' Piper's tone was the driest I'd ever heard. 'You look like you _lost _the fight.'

I shrugged, wincing when the movement sent my ribs protesting. 'You should see the other guy.'

My quip had no effect on her, and truthfully, it only generated a deep sense of loathing inside me. Percy and I had gone toe to toe and the most I'd given him was a sore shoulder and torn clothes. I had little doubt that if Liam and Annabeth hadn't intervened, he'd have probably beaten me to death.

And I'd have deserved it.

Piper lifted up the discarded washcloth, studying it it. 'So what did you say to him?'

'What makes you think _I _said anything to him?' I demanded.

Piper soaked the cloth in the basin and squeezed out the pale red water. She held up one hand and gestured to me to lean forward with the other. 'Call it demigod intuition. What did you say?'

I submitted to her ministrations without objection, glad that unlike Max, she actually cared about how sensitive my bruised skin was. Her fingers soothed down the angry welts on my face, dripping cool nectar into them to relieve some of the burning. I'd found my new happy place.

'Jason?' Piper paused, drawing the cloth away. 'What did you say to Percy?'

I let out a breath I didn't know I'd been holding. I'd said a great many things to Percy Jackson. I'd called him a poor leader, and an untrustworthy friend. I'd shoved some blame down his throat because he'd let me. But all of those crimes could be forgiven, because all of those had been rooted in some truth. What couldn't be forgiven was...

'I called him worthless.'

Piper dabbed at the cut across my mouth. 'I'm going to assume that has some deeper meaning.'

Despite myself, I smiled, and promptly regretted it when my lips ignited with the slow burn of newly healed skin. 'It's complicated.'

'Everything with you always is.' Piper sighed, and passed the cloth over my chin. 'Are you planning to fight with anyone else today?'

I stared at her. 'Excuse me?'

Piper shrugged. 'You yelled at Annabeth last evening and Percy this morning. So who's the next victim? Me? Leo?'

Stung that she thought I rated her right alongside everyone else, I shrugged off her hand. 'You think I had _fun _shouting at them?'

'I think you're out of control.' Piper said, in the same even tone. I gaped at her; had I heard correctly? After everything that had happened... did she even know what she was talking about?'

Piper smiled a little. 'Now, you think I'm talking through my hat.'

'_I _didn't throw the first punch today.'

Sighing, Piper went back to wiping the grime off my face. 'It's difficult you know,' she said after a while, 'watching you do this to yourself.'

I should have let it go. But this was Piper, and I always had to know, for better or for worse, what she thought of me. I couldn't care less about my father's opinion, but knowing Piper's was worth getting into any argument.

'I'm not out of control.'

'You are.' Piper shook her head, 'it's like a train wreck. The more you try and fix things, the worse you make them. How can't you see that Jason?'

A strong protest was halfway out of my mouth when she lifted her gaze to mine. Her brown eyes –were they brown? I couldn't quite tell– held such a depth of emotion and sympathy that all my carefully arranged defences fell away. In one sentence, Piper had accurately described the thing I feared the most: _failure._ For twelve years I'd been brought up knowing that Romans, especially sons of Jupiter, did not let anyone down. But here I was, not only failing my crew and my friends, but also myself; lashing out on anyone who'd be willing to take it.

'Exactly.' Piper murmured, doing her weird thing of reading my thoughts. 'Why are you so scared, Jason?'

I blinked, trying to stop the rush of emotions I'd squirreled away into a tight box at the back of my head. 'Because...' I swallowed, pushing them back, 'I'm the leader. I'm not supposed to falter. Ever.'

Piper picked up another pristine towel and began dabbing the remaining moisture off my face.

'There's a reason for seven members of the prophecy, Jason, and not one. You're not meant to do this alone.'

'I know,' my head lowered and I struggled to lock away my insecurities, 'but I can't... I can't just—'

'—trust other people?' Piper finished.

For one heady moment, it was as though I was back on the porch at the Big House, with Percy telling me to back off from Chiron. Except his black hair turned golden, and a wild smirk, vaguely familiar, appeared on his face.

_You have some serious trust issues, get over them. _

Seconds later, I was back at the infirmary, sitting next to Piper.

'People screw up all the time.' She said, oblivious to the little trip I'd taken down memory lane, 'but that doesn't mean you stop relying on them.'

_Uh, it does actually._

Shaken by the image my brain had projected, I decided to not say that out loud and contented myself with checking the progress of my nose's healing. Honestly, I got where Piper was coming from, but things worked differently for me. I'd always been given only one chance to prove myself; it stood to reason that everyone else got held to the same standards.

Piper's gaze, was once more, a little too understanding. 'Jason, you're the bravest, most dedicated, person I know.' She paused, tilting her head to one side, studying me. 'But your also the most stubborn, pigheaded, person I know—and that includes Leo by the way.'

I smiled ruefully, 'I do try sometimes.'

'Yeah,' Piper wiped her hands and looked away, 'I just wish you tried for other things too.'

The disappointment in her voice did what Percy's punches couldn't: make me revaluate the choices I'd made. I wanted, so desperately, to be worthy enough for Piper, even as I told myself to stay away from her. And the result of my indecisiveness –falling between two posts of equally high expectations– had me forcing the other aspects of the quest under my control, in an effort to compensate for my own miserable mess.

I was like a ticking time bomb, and the more someone tried to defuse me, the faster I counted down to an explosion.

The speakers overhead crackled to life, interrupting whatever Piper had been about to say. Liam's cheery voice came over the line, startling me a little since I'd thought Webber would still be up in the Bridge.

'Good morning fellow crew members,' static hissed when Liam paused to take breath, 'sorry to disturb you scurvy dogs, but all officers, and Captains, are required to report to the Bridge immediately. Good day!'

The infirmary erupted into comments, and I distinctly heard a few fearful words, as pessimists predicted another dangerous enemy looming down on us. For my part, I couldn't think of a single reason as to why Liam would require all of us –including Percy and me– on the Bridge together, unless it was one of his usual pranks.

Right on cue, the speakers came on again. 'Ah, sorry to keep annoying you guys,' Liam said, not sounding apologetic at all, 'but just to add: all officers who are uninjured are required at the Bridge. The rest of you slackers get a free pass this one time.'

Across the room, I saw Leo sink back into bed with relief. Even Dakota and Bobby tucked their legs back into blankets, and Nyssa simply pulled a pillow over her head and went back to sleep.

I sighed; if Liam was screwing with us again, I was going to throw him, and whoever had let him near the broadcast system, off the ship.

Piper nudged my knee. 'Try to take it easy up there. You don't want to break any of the consoles during a fight. Leo will weep.'

I nearly rolled my eyes, but then decided I was in no position to pull that off well enough. Wincing, I got to my feet... and stopped.

'Piper.' I looked at her, as a warm, funny sensation invaded my stomach, 'would you mind coming with me?'

She stared at me. 'I'm not an officer, Jason.'

'I know. I just...' Shrugging, I tried to pull off being casual, 'it's better when you're around. I mean—_I'm _better.'

Yep, failed at being casual.

Piper thought it over –causing me several mild heart attacks as I berated myself for making things so personal– until she smiled, and instantly, everything improved.

'If you need me, I'll be there.'

* * *

We were the first to arrive.

The Bridge looked exactly as I left it, except a little brighter, and minus Webber but plus Liam. The first thing I did was to check the computer screens and the large bay window, searching for a foreign vessel or monster in the vicinity. Aside from a school of fish the sonar identified, nothing seemed out of the ordinary.

Liam swivelled around as we approached; taking his feet off the console they'd been propped up on.

'I've been expecting you,' he drawled in acknowledgement, frowning when he looked past me. 'Hey—what's _she _doing here? Last I checked she wasn't an officer.'

I caught sight of Piper's blush and put a hand on her shoulder. 'She's here because I want her to be.'

Liam scowled, but didn't pursue it. Piper shot me a grateful look and we sat down on companion chairs next to the systems. By now, I knew Liam's ways so I didn't bother asking what the call had been for. In fact, I was more than grateful to not have a conversation and consequently spent the next few minutes examining my face in the LCD screens. I'd never been particularly _vain _about my looks, but it did rankle a little, seeing an oversized tomato in the place of my nose.

'Where are the others?' Piper asked at last.

Liam did another slow three sixty in his swivel chair. 'Depends on who you mean by "others."The only officers not injured, aside from me, are Annabeth, Keenan and Webber.'

'Percy's supposed to be here too.' I said.

Liam's smirk appeared in record time. 'Maybe he'll come and you guys can start round two.'

I ignored the jibe. 'Where's Anthony? Isn't this his Watch?'

'It is,' Liam stretched back in his chair, forcing Piper to shift so that he could have space for his legs, 'but he had something to do so he asked if I could cover for him.'

My eyes nearly popped out of their sockets. '_You _covered for Anthony? Why?'

'No idea,' Liam muttered, closing his eyes, 'but it's been a weird day. Saving your ass, doing Webber a favour... next thing you know, I might actually start liking McLean.'

Piper shuddered and pushed her chair away, closer to me. 'I'd rather you didn't.'

Before Liam had the chance to retort, the door to the Bridge opened and Max Keenan poked his head in.

'Captain?'

'Have a seat Lieutenant,' I waved him over, 'we haven't started yet.'

'Actually,' Max hesitated and his face was more worn than ever, shoulders slumped in exhaustion, 'there's a problem down in the infirmary. Anthony and I are fixing it up.'

I frowned, making a mental note to tell Max to get some sleep later on in the day. 'Do you guys need any help?'

'None at the moment.' Max replied, 'but it might take us a while. You should probably start without us.'

Liam cleared his throat, in his trademark obnoxious manner. 'Oh don't worry,' he said as Max waited in resignation for the expected insult, 'you guys won't be missed.'

I aimed a swift kick at Liam, missed, and ended up knocking Piper in the shins. 'Sorry,' I hissed as Liam began to chortle. Annoyed, I turned back to Max who, I was beginning to think, deserved the highest commendation I had to offer. Not only for the amount of responsibility he shouldered, but for his sheer determination to not get provoked into a fight with his fellow crew members. The last fact, alone, made me overlook his usual gruff demeanour and his penchant for putting me into uncomfortable situations with Piper.

'Take all the time you need Lieutenant.' I made sure to smile, 'we'll fill you guys in later on.'

Nodding, Max withdrew and for the second time that day Annabeth walked in right after he left. She turned her head to watch him depart, coming back to us with slight puzzlement.

'Where's Keenan going?'

Liam pushed Annabeth a chair with his foot. 'To a Roman toga party. To which you're not invited.'

Annabeth rolled her eyes and sat down. I couldn't help but notice however, that she made sure to manoeuvre around so that she was on Piper's left, and thus, in no direct contact with me. I ignored the pang in my stomach and told myself to focus on more important things. All of us were here; it didn't make sense to dally around.

'Can we start now?' I glared at Liam, 'or are you going to keep wasting our time?'

'Cool your jets, Roman.' He made a great show of fiddling with his console before announcing, 'ladies and gentlemen_, _if you could direct your attention to the front please.'

Suppressing the urge to strangle Liam, I watched the main window darken and turn into an electronic screen. A world map appeared on it seconds later, continent lines outlined in matrix green. Another overlay happened –this time in blue– signifying wind patterns and a third overlay, with a darker blue, showed ocean currents. All of it was absolute Greek for me, except for the one big...

'Dear gods.' The air vanished from my lungs, 'what is that _doing _there?'

Silence answered my question. Liam, who till now had appeared so chipper, had toned down his smile and had a distinct, anxious air about him. 'The image downloaded ten minutes ago, just as the new Comm. tower came online. I called you guys up because I didn't want to start a mass panic, especially with the state the crew is in.'

I shook my head unable to comprehend what I was looking at. 'How did we miss this?'

'The Comm. tower's been damaged all this while.' Annabeth reminded me, 'all the satellite images are routed through it.'

'Yeah but the last time we saw _that_, it was down in Brazil!' I rounded on her, finding it easier to operate on a purely professional level, 'you and Leo told me not to worry about it!'

Annabeth scowled, 'we told you not to worry about it _because _it was near Brazil. It wasn't supposed to move this far, and this quickly.'

I wasn't satisfied. 'But it _did _move. How?'

'How am I supposed to know, Jason?' Annabeth threw her hands up in equal frustration, 'I don't watch the currents everyday! I have other things to do.'

Before I could disprove that particular claim, Liam interrupted; his calm tone at odds with the rest of us.

'You both are failing to consider one thing,' he said, 'that movement _isn't_ natural. Someone's controlling it.'

A strained silence followed and my spirits plummeted even further as I understood the notion he was driving at. And to think I'd started my day hoping nothing bad would happen. So far, _only _bad things had happened.

'Gaia controls the earth.' Annabeth pointed out, in disagreement, 'not water or the winds.'

'Gaia's husband, Ouranus, is the _sky_.' Liam countered, 'and while he hasn't joined the war, I'm willing to bet he doesn't care enough to stop it either.'

I slumped back in my chair. 'This is just brilliant.'

Liam and Annabeth exchanged glances and I rubbed at my temples, hoping to stave off a headache. All the various bruises on my body started to ache again, and I entertained the sudden idea of sticking my sword into my chest. Surely the Underworld would be a more peaceful place than this godforsaken ship?

'Um, guys?' Piper raised a hand, looking between us, 'I'm sorry, but what are you freaking out about? All I can see is a purple dot.'

Liam did an exaggerated face palm, but I glared him off. Nobody deserved to be treated like an idiot, especially not Piper, and _especially _not Piper when I was around.

'That purple dot signifies a weather pattern. It's a tropical rotating storm.'

Piper frowned, 'and that is—?'

Before I had a chance to explain, a voice came from the doorway. 'Also known as a hurricane.'

We all turned, and under the unwavering scrutiny of four people, Percy entered the room. By the looks of thing he'd recently showered and changed into fresh clothes. His black hair gleamed in the sunlight, only serving to remind me of my day old clothes and squashed face.

Liam, never one to miss an opportunity of screwing with someone, even if the apocalypse was around the corner, drew a chair up for him. 'Ah, hello. Are you back to finish what you started? Should we all get out of the way?'

Percy ignored him and the chair, choosing to stand behind the lot of us. Uneasy about turning my back on him, I twisted sideways so that he could be seen out of the corner of my eye.

'So um,' Piper threw quick "just be cool guys" glances at all of us, 'how bad is this hurricane?'

And just like that, we forgot about the fight on the deck. Because, somewhere in the next six hours or so, the _Argo II _was going to sail right into the middle of a massive storm, and possibly fall apart under the rampage, taking all of us to the bottom of the ocean with it. It didn't matter who punched who or what had been said: big, evil barrier took precedence over everything else.

Annabeth analyzed the screen with a critical eye. 'From the image, I'd say it's a category 4.' I studied the map as well, a little surprised that all the various markings and lines made sense now. The spirals of the storm weren't elongated and the diameter from end to end wasn't that big either but the colour—purple—really worried me. Lower the pressure, higher the intensity of the hurricane; and purple signified very low pressure indeed.

'How is Gaia sustaining this?' I wondered out loud.

Piper turned to me. 'Isn't it obvious?'

'What d'you mean?'

'_Anemoi Thuellia_,' Piper replied simply, 'I'm guessing if you put enough of them together in one place, you get a pretty huge storm.'

'Also,' Annabeth tapped at console and zoomed in on the map, 'look at the positioning of it.'

It only took a moment to get her meaning.

'Right at the mouth of the Mediterranean sea.' I groaned, 'where the pillars of Hercules are supposed to be. She's blocking us off.'

'Can't we just...' Piper shrugged helplessly, 'like go _around _it?'

Liam snorted, 'do you mean all the way down to Africa and back up the Suez Canal? If we do that, Nico Di Angelo will be dead and Mount Olympus destroyed, all by the time we get about halfway.'

'I meant,' Piper glared at him, 'we could just wait for it to dissipate or something.'

'And where do you suppose we weigh anchor?' Liam asked, 'because it's kind of impossible to do so in the middle of the ocean.'

'Shut up Liam.' I laid a hand on Piper's arm, telling her it was no use arguing with him, 'at least she's thinking of solutions. What's your idea?'

Liam shrugged, 'we go through it. It's the only way.'

'And what if the storm tears us to pieces?'

'Then we die.' Liam said with no hint of his usual scathing tone. 'This is all or nothing, and Gaia's played her cards well. We have to face this head on.'

The irony of _him_ saying such a thing irritated me. 'Says the man who avoids every fight he can.'

'Let's talk to Leo before making assumptions.' Annabeth interrupted quickly, 'and get a good idea of how much the ship can take.'

None of us could dispute the wisdom of such a comment. Discouraged, I leaned back and inspected the map again, hoping for some bright idea to strike me. The more I looked at it, the more apparent it became that the storm was magical. Its perimeter covered the passage into the Mediterranean exactly, leaving no room to squeeze past. The intent was clear: demigods were not going to get to Rome in time, not if Gaia had anything to do about it.

'We could try controlling it,' Percy said after a while, and I turned around to find his gaze on me. 'I can hold back the sea and you the wind.'

I stared at him, realizing after several moments that his suggestion was both an opinion and an attempt, on his part, to apologize. While I wanted to continue holding a grudge (my nose approved of this idea) I couldn't, in good conscience, punish him for my mistakes. I was lucky enough to be getting an apology in the first place, especially when I'd been so out of line earlier.

'We could,' I nodded, 'hey—it might even be fun, playing the tag team.'

Amusement lightened Percy's eyes. 'Bet I'll score more than you.'

'You wish, Jackson.'

'Seriously?' Annabeth regarded us with disbelief, 'do you _really _think you can control a hurricane?'

'We have to try, don't we?' Percy retorted, 'unless _you _have a better plan?'

Checkmated, Annabeth pursed her lips and looked away, eyebrows coming together in a dangerous frown. Her hand clamped down around the armrest, signifying the extent of her anger at being shown up so publicly. It was hard to say who she disliked more at the moment—me or Percy.

For his part, Percy looked unconcerned about what he's just said. I got the feeling that during his shower he'd transitioned from being heartbroken over the circumstances, to beyond caring about what had happened. And really, I couldn't fault him for that. If Annabeth felt she could dump her boyfriend after a year, with no explanation, then Percy had full right to not give a second's thought about her feelings.

Still, it was with supreme relief that I heard the door to the Bridge open, signalling Anthony and Max's arrival.

'Pull up a chair Lieutenants,' I called, 'we're just getting started.'

But, instead of the quick footsteps I anticipated, a heavy tramp of multiple shoes echoed on the wooden floor. Confused I turned around just in time to see ten other Romans follow Anthony and Webber into the Bridge.

'Jeez, Grace,' Liam huffed, 'did you have to make _everyone _an officer? It kind of defeats the purpose, you know.'

Frowning, I got to my feet. 'I don't—'

Chris jabbed an elbow into my face, throwing me into the nearest console. I scrambled for my weapon but strong hands came around my neck, cutting off my oxygen supply and forcing me to my knees. Chairs got pushed aside and shouts rent the air. Hank threw Liam down next to me, slipping a knife between the folds of his protective jacket to keep him from reacting. I tried to throw off my captor to no avail. _What_ was going on?

Jessica disarmed Piper before she could move and Lena forced Annabeth into a chair, flinging her dagger away. Percy drew Riptide, dodging Max's first attack, but just as he moved to give himself better access, an Imperial Golden blade slipped past his defences and went straight for his throat.

Anthony Webber stood at the other end of the blade. 'Put the weapon down, Jackson.'

Percy hesitated, and Webber twisted the hilt of his sword. Gasping, Percy dropped Riptide, allowing Max to seize both his hands and cuff them with chains. Blood seeped down Percy's neck and into his shirt.

Dizzy, confused, and battling the icy shard of fear working in my stomach I glared at all the Romans crowding the Bridge. Pique, Matthew, Naomi, Larry... the only people missing were Frank, Hazel, Bobby and Dakota. Struggling to breathe against the metal held against my throat and unable to process the events of the last ten seconds, I snapped.

'What do you think you're doing, Anthony?'

Webber turned to survey me, a frightening impassiveness on his face. In it I saw a flash of his earlier resentment—had that been only two hours ago? The sting of oversight came crashing down on me like a two tonne elephant and suddenly, I couldn't bring myself to look at the others. I'd been so sure, so _confident_ that I'd dealt with the unrest properly; but once again I'd misjudged the situation. And now, dear gods, the quest was going to suffer because of it.

Taking his time, Webber went around the Bridge, making sure each of us was secured, before he crouched down next to me. 'Isn't it obvious, Jason?'

He glanced up, and met my gaze, eyes like empty sockets. 'This is a mutiny.'

Disgust flared inside my throat as a Webber's lips twisted into a thin, sickening smile.

'And you are no longer in command of this ship.'


	16. Chapter 16

**A/N: Been away, got busy, started to read A Song of Ice and Fire. The last was not the best of ideas. **

**Previously on The Final Frontier: **_Annabeth breaks up with Percy. Jason rallies the crew to board a pirate ship, only for the entire plan to end in disaster. Percy and Leo get injured—and nearly drown—till Frank, using his mother's gifts, heroically saves them. Jason confronts Percy about his leadership skills, the encounter ending in a fist fight. A storm gathers at the mouth of the Mediterranean Sea, barring the single access to Rome. Anthony Webber stages a mutiny._

* * *

**16) Detective Inspector Me.**

**Frank-I.**

I was on my way back from my frustration venting session at the Archery range when a cheery voice hailed me, rising above the roar of the surrounding sea.

'Son of Mars. A moment, please?'

Surprised, –after all, who called people by their lineage in the 21st century? – I turned, and came face to face with a rather pretty girl. Her blond hair shimmered in the afternoon sun and the white t-shirt she was wearing, contrasted nicely with her tan skin. Slate eyes, alight with humour gleamed at me.

'Erm...' Suddenly shy, I tripped over my tongue, 'Hey. Emily. Can I help you?'

She grinned and patted my shoulder, drawing me to one side. 'I've been looking all over for you, Frank.'

'I was just at the Range.' I said, feeling absurdly guilty for keeping Emily busy. What was wrong with me? I'd spoken to Emily only once before and that had been when we'd been fighting the Sea Monster together. Still, it wasn't like she'd occupied my thoughts or anything. She was just some Greek, part of the crew, and one of the many people I'd fought with but didn't know well enough to talk to.

Still, she was extremely _pretty._

'Is there something you need?' I told myself to get a life, and focused on where she was leading me.

Emily gestured to one of the benches lining the deck, and more mystified than ever, I sat down beside her, out of the path of the wind, with the noise of the sea somewhat muffled.

'Sorry for the secrecy,' Emily began, after sending quick glances down the deck (Why would she bother, we were the only two people of the crew present,) 'my sister doesn't like it when private matters are overheard.'

'Sister?' I repeated, 'oh, you mean Annabeth.'

Emily affected a sigh. 'Who else? I must say, it gets annoying when you're only known by the relationship you have with your more famous family.'

'Sorry,' I said immediately.

Emily laughed. It had a nice, casual ring to it.

'It's fine. I don't take offence anymore.'

'I still have to apologize,' I confessed, 'I'm Canadian.'

Emily chuckled again and I was struck by the painful realization that I may have just flirted for the first time. The thought did nothing to bolster my rather low confidence. When was the last time I'd talked to such a beautiful girl—aside from Hazel of course?

'Anyway,' I attempted to sound nonchalant despite the funny turn my stomach was doing, 'what's... up?'

'Annabeth has a message for you,' Emily said, her eyes losing none of their humour, but gaining a little wariness, 'and she'd preferred it if you'd... keep it to yourself.'

All thoughts of Emily being amazing left my mind. Such secrecy from Annabeth had to concern only one thing.

'The Pearls.'

Emily shrugged. 'Maybe.'

'What about them?'

'Not about _them_,' Emily brushed hair over her ear, 'but about Athena.'

Flummoxed, I raised an eyebrow. 'Athena?'

'Don't ask me,' Emily's tone turned a tad petulant, 'I have no idea what this is about. Annabeth wants your opinion on Athena's greatest enemy.'

I blinked, 'her greatest enemy?'

Emily's jaw tightened, as though she was grinding her teeth. Maybe I shouldn't have repeated everything she'd said. 'Apparently your answer is worth more than mine _or _Malcolm's.'

In a flash, I understood. The discussion with Annabeth over the location of the Pearls may have seemed a long time ago, but only a few days had passed. I _did_ remember saying that I'd hide the Pearls under the noses of the very people seeking them. Obviously Emily and Malcolm had taken offence to Annabeth turning to me for advice, given that Athena was _their _mother and I was only some upstart Roman.

'Oh.' I nodded, 'okay. Message received. I'll erm... think about it.'

Emily's grey eyes bored into mine and even though a smile still played around her lips, I got the distinct impression that she wasn't as happy as she pretended to be.

'Don't suppose you'd want to fill me in?' She asked, smiling in an unconcerned, careless manner.

I licked my lips. The question was entirely too pointed for my peace of mind. In hindsight, mentioning the Pearls might not have been my greatest move. Even the other five of the prophecy didn't know she was searching for them.

'Annabeth did say to keep it to myself.'

Emily's eyes flashed with annoyance. Thankfully, before she said as much, or reached for the twin daggers she kept strapped to her belt, the moment passed.

'True,' her grin turned rueful, 'she would've probably come herself but she was needed at the Bridge.'

'Oh, yeah.' Liam's drawling announcement ten minutes ago had made me wish that I'd been an officer, just so I actually had something else to think about,instead of shooting arrows at the range, unable to get over the thought of Hazel and Leo ending up together.

'What was that about anyway?'

'No idea.' Emily stood up, 'well, I'll be seeing you Frank Zhang.'

I wondered if the subtle warning in her tone was a promise that she and her brother were going to find me later and demand answers. Greeks had no notion of following their superior's commands to the letter. Annabeth might have told them to stay out of it, but that meant little if they could squeeze me for answers.

'See ya.' I gave her my most winning smile, having no desire to be faced with the business end of her knives.

Emily took three steps away, and turned suddenly. Out of instinct, I reached for my bow and quiver, having left my sword back at my cabin. Emily, however, wore an entirely different expression from what I was expecting.

'Hey—you're good friends with that guy Bobby, right?'

Wary of hidden meanings in her words, I kept my acknowledgement to the minimum.

'We're from the same cohort, yeah.'

Emily mulled over that, eyes crinkled with amusement. 'Would you know if he's dating anyone?'

'I.. uh, no.' I shook myself, 'I mean, no, he's not dating anyone.'

'Oh good.' Emily's sly grin might have come from my answer, or the absurd blush that was warming my ears. If she was going to ask me to introduce her to Bobby, I was going to run for the nearest hill. Frank Zhang was not some matchmaker, ready to join two lives together and all that nonsense.

And yeah, it might have stung a little to know Emily didn't have any interest in me. Besides...

'Aren't you dating Sherman though?' I vaguely remembered someone's account of Eric and Sherman's epic fight in the Engine Room.

'Am I?' Emily pursed her lips thoughtfully, 'well, I'll have to change that, won't I?'

With another brilliant smile, she departed; leaving me convinced that any Roman would be mad to date a Greek. Give me Hazel any day, I thought to myself, realizing a second later that Hazel had eyes only for Leo.

And just like that, the brief time with good spirits crashed away, leaving its sullen, angry cousin in its place. The girl I wanted didn't care, and the girl I could probably get along with, didn't care either. I kicked the door on my way out, imagining Leo's face in its place.

* * *

Halfway back to my cabin, I began regretting leaving the Range. I'd thought a good hour everyday of loosening arrows would help ease the constant wound inside me, but apparently it wasn't enough. I passed by the infirmary, ignoring calls from the Stoll brothers to join in on their game of poker. Inside, would be Bobby and Dakota, and I could share a laugh with them over Emily's comments and forget my bad temper. But inside was also Leo. And next to him, having not moved the entire night, would be Hazel.

_You should have let him die, _a voice inside my head said. _You should have let Leo Valdez burn with the fire he loves so much. _

He saved Percy's life, I thought resolutely.

_Hazel loves him, _the voice reminded me.

'Hazel _likes _him!' I announced to the bare corridor in front of me. My cabin door stood open on the left, ushering me into equal emptiness on the other side. Dakota was in the infirmary. Hazel was with Leo. Percy, Jason and the rest would be at the Bridge. Webber and the other Romans would be in the Game Room, no doubt enjoying the sudden freedom they had with most of the Greeks tied to their beds.

And here I was. Alone. Friendless.

_You should have let him die. _

My fist slammed into my door, and the sliding hinges creaked in protest. Breathing heavily, I turned away, disgusted. The more I tried not to think about them, the more I did. But that was just the source of my anger. Not my fear, or my shame.

In mind's eye, I saw the flickering fire, dancing upon the rolling waves, begging me to come closer. Leo and Percy, faces white and ghostly stared back at me, as the fire neared them. What kind of flame had the audacity to burn beneath the sea?

Greek fire.

Green and all consuming, and for a moment I'd nearly let them win. Nearly let them defeat me, and burn away whatever would have been left of Leo and Percy. But Hazel had cried for them—had pleaded me to find them—and so I'd pushed through, pushed through the scorching fangs and pulled them to the surface, convinced that any second, one curl of the inferno would catch my sleeve and destroy my very soul so there would be nothing left to judge in the Underworld.

And for all of that, I'd gotten one heartfelt _thank you _from Hazel.

_You should have let him burn. _

I gritted my teeth, ignoring the sting of broken skin around my fist and strode past my cabin. If I had to force my way on to the Bridge, then so be it. As a member of the prophecy I had full right to know what was happening and what had occupied the officers' attention. Even if it was about a broken light or smashed window.

Anything would be better than thinking about fire.

The announcement came just as I'd reached the foot of the ladder leading to the next level.

'All crew members to report to their cabin's immediately.' Jason's voice crackled over the speakers, 'I repeat all crew members to report to their cabins immediately. This is not a drill.'

In the short silence that followed, I automatically thought of how Leo was going to manage that. Would Hazel help him, and lead him by hand? My stomach twisted at the notion.

As though he'd read my mind, the speakers hissed with static and Jason spoke again. 'Those members unable to move are to remain in the infirmary. The rest will report to their cabins _immediately._'

The strain in his words was unmistakable.

I wanted to jump up the ladder and go see what the emergency was, but Lupa's training wasn't easily forgotten. Orders –no matter what they were– should be followed. Still, some part of me rebelled. No way was I going back to my empty cabin with the ghost of fire and Leo to keep me company.

Instead, I turned to my right. Piper's cabin faced me, door locked. On my left, Percy's cabin stood wide open. I hardly had a choice. Stepping sideways, I crossed the threshold, convincing myself that Jason hadn't really specified _which _cabin to return to. If I was lucky Liam and Percy would make an appearance and I'd get some news from them.

The darkened cabin greeted me with all the cheery warmth of a space not inhabited for a day. Both beds were a tumble of twisted sheets, and on the one nearest to the door lay a bunched up Camp Half-blood shirt, which on closer inspection, turned out to be ripped from collar to sleeve.

Portholes on the opposite wall lay open and the salt wind whispered past, stirring the single curtain. I was about to give up and turn on the TV –maybe watch some old episodes of _Friends_– when I caught sight of a crumpled sheet of paper in the corner of the second bed, as though it had fallen there after an unsuccessful (or lazy) attempt to toss it out of the porthole.

Curiosity got the better of me.

I smoothened out the paper on my thigh, sitting down on one of the beds to use the nearest lamp. But instead of some secret messages I'd hoped for, lines of meaningless calculations filled the page. Numbers ran down both sides and right at the bottom, written in thin cursive, was the only word:

_July? +30?_

I tried to go through it again, but gave up after two lines. Math was one of my favourite subjects but the additions and subtractions on the page followed an entirely arbitrary course which I couldn't seem to figure out.

Glancing around the room for more clues, I noticed the torn shirt again. _Percy's shirt, _I realized vaguely, which meant the bed I was sitting on belonged to...

The door slammed shut.

I whirled around, bow in hand, and half a dozen excuses on the tip of my tongue. If Liam found me snooping on his stuff without permission... well, he _did _complain of not having enough partners to practice his swordsmanship on.

But the cabin remained empty.

Rounding the bed, I approached the shut door. No Liam materialized out of the floor or from under the bed. I was quite alone. Uneasily, I decided it was high time I got to my own cabin.

Shifting my bow back over my shoulder, I pulled the handle.

The door didn't move.

Frowning, I tried again, using both hands.

A creak from the hinges, a groan from the wood, but the door remained shut.

I was locked in.

_Calm down, _A bead of sweat trickled down my forehead. _It's only a door. You can break it. _I turned away, checking the cabin again. The wind sighed through the open portholes. Nothing was really out of the ordinary—maybe my imagination had got the better of me. Just to be sure –and realizing a little too late that I didn't have my short sword on me to cut down the door–I did a quick sweep of the bathroom.

There too, the single porthole was open and when I stuck my head out of it, I saw only splintered wood and broken Celestial Bronze shields on either side—injuries the _Argo II _had sustained from the pirate ship's explosion. Liam's and Percy's toothbrushes sat next to the sink and a roll of toilet paper lay on the floor.

Out of habit, I fixed it back into the holder and re-entered the cabin.

Nothing had changed. I checked the door again, just to be absolutely sure that my mind wasn't playing tricks on me, and when it didn't move so much as an inch, I gave up and returned to Liam's bed. Maybe Jason had a reason for locking the cabin's door. Maybe it was a system error. Maybe the Stolls had followed me from the infirmary and decided to play a prank.

It didn't matter. If an hour passed and I was still locked in, I could put a shoulder to the wood and batter in down.

On the wooden floor, Liam's crumpled piece of paper lay unfurled, dropped from my hand as I'd moved to draw my bow. Except this time, instead of numbers, I noticed a bunch of words.

_The other side, _I thought and picked it up. The same thin cursive peppered the paper in paragraphs, made of neat lines of four. A poem.

_Beyond the high seats of the mighty gods,  
Beyond the darkest pits of Tartarus,  
Beyond the unbroken nest of watery fjords,  
Comes a hero, marching home._

_With a blade in his hand, and gleam in his eye,_  
_With plain leather over his breast,_  
_With duty in his heart and honour in his cry,_  
_Comes a hero, marching home._

_The path he walked, alone and scorned.  
The path so full of imagined terrors,  
The path on which his sins were borne,  
Comes a hero, marching home._

_And to welcome this hero, waits his brother,  
To welcome this hero, stands his soldiers,  
To welcome this hero, watches his lover,  
Upon a hill, the harbinger of Rome. _

That was it. I turned over the side, and scoured the calculations, but the poem had only the four paragraphs. A dozen ideas popped into my head all at once, but before I could begin to make sense of them, a scuffle sounded outside the door.

Heart thumping, I dropped the paper on to the bed and turned, half convinced that Liam had arrived to cut me to pieces for invading his jealously protected privacy.

I was only half right.

The door slid open and both Liam and Percy tumbled in, their gazes wild. I did a quick half hop away from the bed, already regretting not crumpling up the paper and throwing it away, but Liam and Percy didn't even notice me.

'I'LL BREAK YOUR NECK, HANK,' Liam roared, pulling forward against Percy's restraining arms and attempting to launch himself out of the doorway, 'I'LL WRAP MY HANDS AROUND IT AND—'

The door slammed shut, and in the following silence, the whine of the lock being drawn in echoed eerily. Undeterred, Liam leaped forward and hammered at the wood with both fists, creating a raucous din.

'Stop!' Percy yelled, shoving him off, 'that's not helping anything, you idiot!'

'YOU SHOULD HAVE LISTENED TO ME.' Liam pushed back, quite beside himself, 'I KEPT TELLING YOU—DON'T TRUST WEBBER. AND WHAT DID YOU DO? YOU TRUSTED WEBBER.'

'I had no choice!' Percy snarled, knocking away Liam's flailing arms, 'Jason picked him, what did I know of—'

'BECAUSE JASON'S SUCH A BLOODY GOOD JUDGE OF CHARACTER, ISN'T HE?' Liam drowned Percy out and I noticed that his right eye and cheek were red and puffy, 'YES, LET'S ALL LISTEN TO JASON "DUTY FIRST" GRACE. LOOK HOW WELL THAT TURNED OUT.'

Percy, it seemed, had no answer because he wrenched away and kicked at his bed, falling down into the pillows with an animalistic groan. Only then did he notice me.

'Frank?' He sat up, dark anger slipping away for a moment to reveal puzzlement.

Liam, who'd turned away in acute frustration, twisted his head to find me, blue eyes narrowed like the points of ice pickets. 'What the hell are you doing here?' He demanded, striding over as I tripped over my feet to back up, 'going to put a sword to our necks, are you, Zhang?'

My stomach turned to water and my voice ratcheted up several octaves. 'N-n-no—I was just...' I'd never seen Liam so furious before. He looked mad enough to kill someone.

'He's not one of them.' Percy said brusquely, 'he's locked in like the rest of us.'

'Maybe Webber put him in to spy on us.' Liam's hand wavered near his shoulder, an action that spoke of drawing one of his blades, 'maybe he means to slit our throats for fun.'

Percy pushed himself off the bed and pulled Liam away. 'Frank's one of us.'

'He's a Roman!' Liam retorted.

'And so are you.' The words were out of my mouth before I could stop them.

The very air seemed to still as Liam's icy gaze bored into me. In the depths of his eyes I saw no trace of the laughing, sarcastic, antagonistic guide I'd known. In fact, I saw no trace of anything. He looked like a cold blooded murderer.

'What did you say?' He asked softly, so softly.

'Nothing.' Percy pulled him by the shoulder and slipped between us and shooting me a "shut up right now" look, 'Frank said nothing.'

Liam's deadened eyes held me for a moment, and then he turned away to kick the cabin door, an action which had no use whatsoever. Percy watched him, sinking down on the nearest bed with an expression of utter desolation.

'Erm...' I slipped in the word as innocuously as I could, hoping that if worst come to worst, Percy would jump between me and Liam again, 'I don't mean to pry but... what exactly has happened?'

Liam snorted as he turned to face me and for once I was glad to be on the receiving end of his whip-sharp tongue. Anything was better than his murderous rage.

'We've decided to have a slumber party. With DVDs and pyjamas. Best go get yours quickly.'

Percy rubbed at his temples. 'There's been a mutiny.'

The word took a long time to sink in. 'There's been—_what?_'

'Anthony Webber,' Percy said in a tone which suggested he wasn't averse to the idea of ripping the First Centurion apart, limb from limb, 'has led a mutiny and taken command of the ship.'

'But—' I groped for something intelligent to say, '_how? _He can't just seize command!'

'He can if he's got half the bloody crew behind him.' Liam snapped from his position at the door, 'the Roman half.' He added with a pointed glance.

I ignored the sting of accusation. 'What's Webber going to do with the ship?'

'Turn it around.' Percy replied, 'he doesn't want to go sailing through the Mediterranean and he doesn't want to fight Gaia. So he's taking us home.'

A cold knife twisted in my chest. 'Is he... is he working for her? Gaia?'

Just saying the name seemed to drop the temperature several degrees.

'I don't think so.' Percy said at last, 'he said we were on a fool's quest with no chance of success with the...' Percy looked down at the floor, 'with the kind of leadership we had. So he's taking us home.'

In mind's eye I saw Octavian smirking. This was his work. I could _smell _it. 'What's wrong with the leadership?'

'Nothing.' Liam's made a rude gesture and sat down next to the door, 'except for the little fight they just had.'

I glanced at Percy. He still hadn't looked up from the floor. 'What fight?'

'It doesn't matter.'

'He punched Jason out.' Liam supplied helpfully.

'You _punched _Jason—?!'

'I said it doesn't _matter_.' Percy jumped to his feet, the anger settling along the lines of his face, 'what matters is that we're _stuck_ here while Webber and his crew of traitors turns the ship around and takes us back. We can't _afford _to go back!'

In the ringing silence that followed, I felt for the strap of my bow and quiver around my shoulder. Liam had his jacket—which meant the swords, and Percy would have Riptide. Three armed demigods against... fifteen? The odds were dim, but at least they were odds.

'I _told _you not to trust him,' Liam said finally, 'I told you a hundred times. From the moment he didn't try and save Annabeth—'

'And I was just supposed to take your word for it?' Percy demanded, 'you've hated him. Held a grudge against him. If you weren't so damn _childish, _I would've believed you.'

'I don't hate people for the sake of hating them!' Liam argued.

I coughed, 'excuse me. What about the Romans?'

Liam waved a dismissive hand, 'so I don't _like _them. And really, can you blame me? Your lot is up on the Bridge with Webber, making idiot plans.'

Now that I knew Liam wasn't going to go all psycho on me, I regained some of my earlier pride. 'We're not _all _bad. If Percy punched Jason—well, I wouldn't join Webber's crew but I understand where they're coming from.'

Percy and Liam's eyebrows rose in unison.

I sighed. 'Romans admire strength. But above all they admire _discipline. _If Captains are fighting each other then what's going to happen to the rest of the crew? Webber may be crazy but at least he can promise them a sure future.'

'A sure future.' Liam repeated scathingly, 'tell me, is running back to Camp Jupiter with their tails between their legs, a _sure _future?'

'I never said Webber wasn't crazy,' I admitted, remembering when I'd objected to his presence way back in Camp Jupiter, 'why didn't you try and reason with him?'

'Oh dear, why _didn't_ we think of that, Perce?' Liam threw up his hands in dramatic revelation. 'I can't believe none of us even bothered—_no you idiot_, we all had swords at our necks. D'you think any of us were thinking about _talking_?'

I glanced at Percy and noticed for the first time the red line running from jaw to Adam's apple. _Imperial Gold, _I thought desperately. This was getting more difficult by the minute. _Webber planned everything down to the last detail. What else do you expect from the First Centurion? _

'What about Jason?' I asked instead, remembering the announcement. If the Greek half of the crew hadn't heard the Liam's shouts, then they were probably hanging out in their cabins, unaware that a mutiny had taken place.

Percy rubbed his eyes. 'Webber gave him a choice of keeping the Greek crew out of harm's way or throwing them overboard.' While I digested that piece of news with barely restrained shock, Percy threw himself back on to the bed and added, 'Jason and Piper are barred in his cabin.'

_Terrible odds. But still odds. _

'Well.' I sat on the word and gripped my bow for reassurance, 'there's only one option left to us then.'

Percy raised his eyebrow, 'what do you mean?'

'We retake the Bridge.' I said in my calmest tones, 'the three of us.'

I expected the stunned silence to be followed by a cheer of optimism. Instead Percy buried in his head in his hands and Liam gave a low, mocking, whistle.

'Such remarkable strategy Zhang. Did Mars give _all _his intelligence to you or did he leave some for your siblings?'

I flushed, 'we all have weapons. If we surprise them—'

'Tell me,' Liam tipped his head back and spoke to the ceiling, as though lecturing a particularly dense student of his, 'how do you suppose we'll get out of this cabin?'

I stood up. 'We break down the door.'

'Fantastic.' Liam still had his head tipped back, 'and then what? We run up all the way to the Bridge with a Red Indian war cry?'

'_No,' _I gritted my teeth. Why did Liam always have to be so _difficult? _'We use the ladders. It'll take hardly a minute and they won't be expecting us.'

'Is that so?'

'Yes.' I ground out the word. 'Webber would've put a lookout, maybe even two, but as long as we're quick we can push through them and—'

'What about the cameras?' Liam dropped his head to look me in the eye.

Thrown, my tongue curled around and my voice went squeaky. 'The—what?'

'Cam-er-as.' Liam drawled in his pleasant tone, 'or did you forget all about them?'

This time, my skin warmed all the way from my cheeks to the tips of my ears. I _had _forgotten about the cameras. They lined the inside of the ships, down all the corridors and GQ positions. And all the feed was sent directly to a bank of screens... on the Bridge. Leo had installed them to cut down response time to a malfunction on the ship. Now they'd be the death of us.

'I...' My plan was in shambles. The whole thing hinged on the element of surprise and now we had none. 'There has to be a way.' I said weakly.

'That's not even the worst of it.' Percy said in a low voice, sounding as though he had a particularly bad cold.

I stared at him, dread solidifying in my stomach. 'Why?'

Percy dropped his hands, and his eyes were shattered emeralds. 'Webber's kept a hostage on the Bridge with him.'

The floor rocked beneath me, and I felt bile rise at the end of my throat. None of this should have surprised me. Webber was the First Centurion. The perfect Roman soldier. Cold, calculating, and utterly ruthless. If he could throw twenty Greeks into the middle of the ocean just to keep his command safe, he was entirely capable of holding a hostage. Why then, did I feel so betrayed?

'Who is it?' I asked, already knowing the answer.

Percy's fists clenched. 'Annabeth.'

I sank down on to the floor. The perfect Roman soldier with his perfect plan. Out of all of us, Percy was the biggest threat. Imperial Gold could harm him, but he far outmatched the crew with reflexes and skill. They couldn't even keep his weapon away from him. So what had Anthony Webber done? Put the one thing Percy would never endanger right in harm's way.

'He said...' Percy shook his head, 'If Webber so much as _glimpses _us, he'll...'

'...break Annabeth's fingers.' Liam finished quietly, from his corner. 'One by one. And if we step through the Bridge's door, he'll put his _pugio _into her heart.'

* * *

For the longest hour, the three of us sat in silence. Eventually, I asked for details of what had transpired on the Bridge, which Liam answered in tired, frustrated tones. Percy didn't speak at all, choosing to stare up at the ceiling from his bed; praying, thinking or hoping, I didn't know. Maybe all three.

Webber had forced Liam, Percy, Jason and Piper down the ladders and corridors at sword point, promising injury to them and Annabeth alike if they tried to rebel. The other Romans themselves weren't as brutal, but with Webber up in the Bridge mere feet away from Annabeth, none of the prisoners took a chance.

The Romans bypassed the cabin's lock sequence initiated earlier on Webber's orders with the master card Keenan had flicked from Leo in the morning. All the people on Watch had been Roman, except for Liam himself, so no alarm could be raised. The Greek half of the crew, from Liam's estimation, was either stuck in the infirmary or in their own cabins.

'He waited for them to enter after Grace did the announcement,' Liam said, 'then he got all the doors locked. Bastard watched the entire spectacle from the cameras.'

The Greeks would eventually get suspicious no doubt, and Webber had posted two guards on either end of the corridor and two outside the infirmary with instructions to injure whoever tried to break out. Given that all of the Greeks had barely recovered from the pirate escapade, two guards on each level would be more than enough to stem the flow.

When I said as much, Liam sounded a mocking laugh.

'And we have Webber to thank for that too.'

'What d'you mean?'

'Guess who was sitting in Comm. when Percy and Jason asked for volunteers to board the pirate ship.'

The obvious name sat on the edge of my tongue, but I couldn't figure out its significance. 'Webber?'

Liam nodded, 'and guess what the bastard relayed _instead _of the orders he was given.'

A dull pounding started at the back of my eyes as I began to comprehend the multiple threads of the First Centurion's master plan. This was no passionate uprising—this was a cold blooded, methodical takeover.

'He asked only for Greeks and made sure no Romans were anywhere _near_ the boarding party.'

'Bingo.' Liam patted the side of his face which was red and swollen, checking to see how tender it was, 'And he put Dakota and Bobby in the line of fire too. He hoped you and Hazel would follow—'

'But Hazel gets seasick, and Jason needed me with the archers.' I finished, hands itching to throttle the life out of Anthony Webber. I could forgive people speaking out against leadership; I could forgive people staying out of the fight, but to purposely seize control of the ship on grounds that Jason and Percy weren't _good _enough, and sabotage the entire quest made me sick to the stomach. Webber was a coward and a traitor and all the others who'd followed him, weren't any better.

_Max, _I thought to myself, _Larry, Hank, Lena, Chris, Naomi, _I'd trained with them, fought War Games against them, eaten meals with them in the same hall. Fellow legionaries and brothers-in-arms. What had driven them to abandon their Captains and put their faith in Webber?

The answer came to me soon enough: fear.

They had no love for the sea, and watching the injured Greeks would have made them even more fearful. _What if it were us, _they would be thinking, _what if we'd died beneath the waves? _And the man who'd saved them from that terror now commanded them to follow his lead. Percy was a Greek—born and raised, and Jason had been gone too long, and had returned with outsiders.

Only Anthony Webber, hero of the Titan War, first of the First, was their true hope.

_We have to take back the Bridge, _I rested my head against the cool wood behind me, trying to find the missing piece, _but how? Webber would know we're coming. And even if my some miracle we make it up to the Bridge and defeated the eleven armed demigods there, Annabeth would be dead. _

Hopelessness sunk into my stomach. Liam got up, stretched, paced, and then went to the bathroom to wash his face. Percy remained on the bed, eyes open but unseeing. I ran my finger up and down the string of my bow and thought about Hazel. How long, I wondered, before she realized something was wrong. How long before she tried something stupid and got hurt?

Liam winced as he patted his bruised cheek dry. A purple shadow had already started on the edges and in a few hours, his cheek would be the colour of the ocean.

'Who hit you?'

Liam grimaced, leaning against the sink. 'Who else?'

I snorted, feeling no amusement. 'But why?'

'An old debt he had to repay from Camp.' Liam hung the towel up and gazed out of the porthole, 'apparently _I _didn't fight with enough _honour. _Hypocritical bastard.'

I tapped out a tune on the wooden floor with my knuckles, turning over the model of the ship in my head. There had to be another way to get to the Bridge. There had to. _Think, _I told myself impatiently, _what would Sun Tzu do? _

_Not get trapped in his ship, _came the helpful answer.

'The cameras.' I said out loud, hoping it would help me clear cobwebs, 'if Webber doesn't _know _we're coming we can win. He won't even have enough time to hurt Annabeth. How do we get rid of the cameras?'

Liam stirred against the sink. 'If I had Barbie Prime we might have conjured up something but—'

'—Webber took it.' I finished wearily. How was this man one step ahead of us at every moment?

Silence regained the room, except for the whispering sigh of the ocean breeze. The late afternoon sun vanished intermittently behind the clouds, and the roar of the waves seemed louder than ever.

'She broke up with me.' Percy said suddenly, from his spot on the bed.

Momentarily distracted from visions of tossing Webber over the side of the ship and watching him drown, I glanced up. 'What?'

'Annabeth.' The name came from Percy, half a sigh, half a murmur. 'She broke up with me. Webber doesn't know that.'

_He doesn't, _I agreed in my head, _but it changes nothing. You would never, voluntarily, risk her life._

Aloud I said, 'the cameras are the key. They're in all the corridors but maybe we can find a blind spot to use.'

Percy appeared not to have heard me. 'I still don't know why she did it.'

_You and me both, _I wanted to say, but kept my mouth shut. What did I know of the inner workings of women? Hazel had kissed me, and pushed me away. Then she'd risked her life to save my stick. _Then _she'd made me risk _my _life to save Leo. What good was my opinion when I couldn't sort out my own problems?

'Maybe she doesn't like you anymore.' Liam offered, as the silence stretched between the three of us.

'But why?' Percy studied the ceiling above him, 'what did I do wrong?'

'Nothing,' I replied, suddenly wishing Webber had taken Percy captive and sent down Annabeth instead. She, at least would be helping me figure out a solution. 'You didn't do anything wrong.'

'Then why did she break up with me?'

The pounding behind my eyeballs worsened. 'The cameras,' I insisted, 'focus on them.'

Percy bolted upright, his hair a mess and green eyes gleaming with anger. 'There's no way around them,' he snapped, 'no blind spots, no _nothing. _They're in every corridor and up every ladder. You think you're the first one to think of them?'

Taken aback by the venom in his tone, I searched for words, 'N-no, I'm just... there has to be a way.'

'There is.' Percy pulled out Riptide, looking crazed, 'we storm up there and take back the Bridge.'

I shifted against the wall, 'What about Annabeth—?'

'She dies.' Percy said, breathing heavily, 'that's what you want me to do, isn't it? Since I _always _put _her_ first? Since I don't _care _about other people when _she's_ in danger?'

I forced myself to meet his eyes. 'I never said, or thought, any of those things.'

The wind whistled through the open portholes, stronger than ever. Percy stared at me, all anger gone replaced by the same thing I felt—helplessness. He dropped Riptide into his lap, scrubbing at his face, as though he hoped to get rid of some inner turmoil.

'Well, I'll be damned,' Liam's lazy drawl broke over us, 'who would've thought Mars gave you some intelligence, Zhang?'

Scowling, I turned to face him, leaning against the sink in that annoying arrogant way of his, 'I don't have time for your stupid jokes—'

'Not a joke,' Liam interrupted easily, unhooking one hand from the belt loops on his jeans to point it at the open porthole opposite him, 'the cameras cover every angle _inside _the ship, but not the outside.'

For all the time it took to arrive at the solution, it took surprisingly little to grasp at what Liam was talking about. Then again, the notion was so terrifying that I could well forgive myself for not realizing it before Liam had.

'No,' I said immediately, 'no way.'

Liam rolled his eyes. 'You don't have a choice—'

'I don't care.' I shot to my feet, the thought of iron coloured waves and dancing green fires making me sick to the stomach, 'I'm not doing it. I _can't_.'

'Technically _you _don't have to do anything,' Liam reasoned, in that infuriating manner of his, 'Porkie the dolphin can or Tiny the fly. Or even Robin the bird.'

_Let him burn, _a voice whispered in my head. 'It doesn't work that way.' I ignored the images of the watery fire bubbling up to the surface, 'no matter what I change into—I'm still _me._'

'Thank the gods for that,' Liam muttered, 'can you imagine if you changed into Porkie the dolphin and swam off into the sunset for fish, leaving us doomed?'

'This isn't a _game!_' I shouted, hands trembling against my sides as, unbidden, emerald flames surrounded me, ghosting over my skin. 'I can't do it—not as a dolphin or a fly or a bird, not with the fire...' I stopped short, hot tears of shame working through my chest. I'd called Webber a coward but was I any better?

But Webber hadn't swum through a black ocean, with green flames. Webber hadn't felt the heat eat away at his very soul. Webber hadn't risked his sanity to save his friends from drowning.

Liam regarded me with his cold blue eyes. 'There's no fire here, Zhang. We left the explosion far behind.'

'It doesn't matter.' I shivered against the wind blowing through. _Let him burn._ 'I can't do it. It... please. Please don't make me.'

Percy's eyes bore into the back of my head. They didn't understand. None of them did. Because none of them feared death. But I did. And with every spark, and every ember spelling the doom of me... I would die by fire. Someday, somehow, I would burn alive.

_Let. Him. Burn. _

'Romans,' Liam said in disgust, turning away, 'good for nothing cowards, the lot of you.'

A hand touched my shoulder. 'Lay off him.' Percy's measured tone held surprising warmth, 'Frank's done braver things than you have.'

Liam gave a disbelieving snort and kicked at the bathroom door. 'So we're just going to sit here then? While Webber sails us all the way back to Camp Jupiter and Gaia takes over the world?'

'We'll find another way.' Percy replied.

'_How?_' Liam demanded, 'we can't use the corridors, Webber will see us. The only way to get to the decks—which _aren't_ covered by cameras—is through _this _porthole, which none of us can fit through, except for Frank the bird.'

Percy sighed, 'how does getting to the deck change anything?'

'Are you _blind_?' Liam snapped, 'you can access the Bridge from the Top deck!'

'The Top deck's falling apart.'

'Who's telling Frank to _walk _on it?' Liam hissed, 'he can fly, can't he? All he has to do is flutter out of this window and to the Top Deck. Break through the window and surprise all of them!'

'Eleven armed demigods.' Percy reminded him, 'Frank can't take them all. Not alone. Not with Webber holding a knife against Annabeth.'

'And that's if I keep a hold of the transformation,' I said, trying not to think of how it would feel to plummet through the air, bird one second and falling human the next, into the iron waves of the ocean with fire dancing underneath them, 'it only works in extremely stressful situations.'

Liam looked like he wanted to strangle me. 'How is the balancing the fate of the world on your fingertips _not _a stressful situation?'

'It doesn't work that way Liam,' Percy sounded so weary I wondered if he'd slept at all in the infirmary, 'you can't expect people to do things just because they _might_ be able to.'

'Spare me your wisdom, Son of Poseidon,' Liam sneered, 'I don't see you trying to help save your bloody ship.'

Something so obvious hit me, I felt lightheaded with laughter. So simple and so straightforward. Sun Tzu would be so proud. Instead, I cleared my throat. 'Actually he can.'

Percy and Liam's eyebrows rose in unison again.

* * *

It took half an hour of Liam and Percy swinging their Celestial Bronze swords back and forth to enlarge the porthole into a size big enough to accommodate Percy's broad shoulders. I would've helped, but I had no sword, and in any case the bathroom was filled to its capacity.

We could have used the other portholes in the cabin, but bronze plates remained fixed on either side of them and it would've taken an entire day to successfully saw through them. Thankfully, the blow back from the pirate ship's explosion had taken off an entire stretch of protective plating... starting right from the bathroom's window. Even so, the steel and wood weren't easy to cut through, and as much as we'd have liked to hammer at it with the blades, we weren't sure how much the guards posted at the end of the corridor could hear.

So in the end, Percy and Liam sawed back and forth, perspiring and cursing at the awkward angles afforded to them. To take their mind off it, I reviewed the plan as many times as I could.

'You have to swim to the stern. The closer you are to the propellers, the better.' I told Percy, visualizing the scene in mind's eye, looking for oversights. 'The wake should camouflage you from any lookout's eyes.'

Liam grunted and put his weight behind his sword. 'No wake's going to help hide his bright orange shirt.'

'He can take one of yours,' I said and pushed on, 'Percy, you then climb to the Aft Deck. You'll need the elevation to figure out your next move.'

'His next move is simple.' Liam said, breathing out with every outward push of his sword, 'he gets to the Top Deck and breaks into the Bridge.'

'Webber _will_ have lookouts,' I reminded myself that patience was a virtue and Liam probably had cramps in his shoulders, 'and all it takes is one person think he's seen something to send this whole thing sideways.'

Percy heaved Riptide out and pushed it back in, panting as he spoke. 'Swim to the stern of the ship. Climb to the Aft Deck. Find the lookouts. Got it.'

'Once you've found them, you have to evade the lookouts,' I continued, ignoring Liam's barely concealed _duh,_ 'and getting to the Top Deck is tricky. A camera hangs at the entrance and covers a wide arc. Knowing Webber, that's exactly where he'll put a guard.'

The swords cut through steal and wood with brutal elegance. 'So how do I get past him?' Percy asked.

'I don't know,' I admitted, 'a distraction maybe?'

'Maybe Percy will conjure up some sea spray to hide his movements.' Liam scoffed, though the effect was somewhat ruined by the deep breaths punctuating his remark, 'or maybe he'll call for a mermaid to seduce the guard.'

'Unless the guard's a girl.' Percy laughed, rivulets of sweat running down his face.

I ignored them. 'Once you're on the Top Deck, the way to the Bridge is clear. You smash the window, grab Annabeth and _run. _No heroics, no nothing. Once we hear you pass this cabin—'

'—we'll know you're in the clear and we'll break down the door.' Liam finished, 'you get Jason and Piper while Frank and I bar the way. The six of us, armed and free, should put a bee in Webber's bonnet. Questions?'

'Just one.' Percy pulled out Riptide, stepped back and gave the window a mighty kick. The wood fell apart, and plates of steel pulled away revealing a ragged hole three feet across. 'Can I fit through this now?'

* * *

Liam and I had nothing to do except to wait after that. Percy took his sword, and himself, and disappeared into the heaving waves, thirty feet below the hole he'd made. With such a gash in the ship's frame, the wind crept in, much stronger now, and sent the toothbrushes and toilet paper whirling around. Muttering about storm spirits, Liam pulled me out, shut the door to the bathroom and locked it.

I restrung my bow and counted arrows, checking my watch every few minutes. How long it would take Percy to breach the Bridge, was entirely up to him. One false move on his part would not only doom any chances of us rescuing the voyage, but would also leave Annabeth with several broken fingers.

The thought only served to make me angry, so I focused instead on how the six of us, once free, could take back the ship. We could free the Greeks who were able to fight, but still the Romans would outnumber us. Could Percy's sheer strength tip the odds in our favour?

Liam paced up and down, cursing inaudibly in Greek. His fist kept clenching and unclenching and twice he threw me dark glances. I knew where his frustration was stemming from and didn't begrudge him of it. If I'd had the courage to change into a bird, the plan would have had better chances. The longer Percy dallied on the deck, in plain sight of any guard who walked around, the more the risks rose.

_Fire and water_, I thought, suddenly ill, _and now I can't face either of them. Some son of war you are, Frank Zhang._

Eventually, Liam grew tired of pacing and sank down on his bed. Squaring his shoulders, he gave an almighty stretch... and froze. Mere inches away, lying rather forlorn from the time I'd tossed it away, was the crumpled piece of paper.

Except now it was flattened out, the side of numbers and calculations facing upwards.

I saw the wheels turn in Liam's head. He'd thrown the paper out of the window. By all rights it should have been in the sea, miles away. If it hadn't gone through the porthole, it should have been on the floor, in the same crumpled state he'd left it in. Not on the bed, smoothened to be read.

I stared at my bow, and fiddled with the knot on one end, determined to look occupied. But who else could have read the paper, besides me? Nobody else had set foot in the cabin—nobody else had accused Liam of being a Roman.

When I'd toyed with my bow far longer than necessary, I looked up, schooling my features to project innocence. Liam's gaze burned into the side of my head, and when I finally met it, I could see the desperate thirst for information in his eyes.

How much did I know? How much had I figured out?

'I like math.' My voice didn't waver or change pitch as I expected it to, 'always been good at it.'

Liam's hand twitched to the invisible swords sitting in his jacket. 'Really?'

'Yeah.' Keep it simple, keep it straight. The best lies are built around truth. 'Didn't understand much of that, but I did find a mistake.'

Liam's expression changed, straight from menacing to disbelief and then to... wariness. He'd gone over it many times, because it was important to him. He couldn't afford a mistake.

'Right at the end,' I waved an unconcerned hand. 'It should be plus _31._'

Frowning, Liam ran his eyes over his paper. With the other side facing me, I could see the poem. Did I dare ask for its significance? Or would Liam throw me out of the broken porthole, into the flaming sea, for finding out things I had no business knowing?

'Plus 31 because it's July, not June.' I explained, 'a simple mistake and only a day's difference. But... I suppose even a day can change plans significantly.'

If Liam had a reply to that, I never got to hear it. Just then, three loud thumps sounded off the cabin's locked door and Lena's no nonsense tones issued forth.

'Back up against the wall, Greeks.' She called.

Liam leaped to his feet, sword in hand. I stayed down, dumbstruck and so scared that I could feel my heart beating in my throat. _Too soon, _I thought to myself, as the panic built and visions of Annabeth murdered swam across, _this is too soon._

Lena didn't care. 'I need to talk to Percy Jackson.'


	17. Chapter 17

**A/N: I trust my readers are having a good weekend? Splendid. Hope this update made it better.**

* * *

**18) I finally get to break down a door.**

**Frank-II.**

Liam reacted faster than a cat tripping on LSD.

He grabbed me by the scruff off my neck, threw me to one corner and tossed my bow and quiver after me, just as he retreated to the far wall and put up his hands in surrender.

All of this, before Lena had even opened slid open the door fully.

Like I said: faster than a cat on acid.

Lena stepped through the doorway, hand on the hilt of her short sword, eyes narrowed in suspicion as they took in Liam standing supplicant against the wall, the very picture of a model prisoner. By then, I'd managed to nock an arrow, and waited in the wings, amazed by the fact that Lena hadn't noticed me yet.

'Where's Jackson?' Lena demanded, seemingly unbothered by Liam having a good six inches on her and outweighing her by at least twenty pounds. No one could say Romans weren't fearless.

Liam gave her one of his classic lazy smiles, which, I had on good authority from several girls, could melt your heart in a matter of seconds. Lena however, remained unmoved.

'He's in the loo.' Liam flicked a thumb to the shut door on his left, tilting his head as he did and sending me a covert message: _move right._

Lena took a couple of steps forward. 'Tell him to get out.'

Still smiling, Liam rapped his knuckles on the locked door, his face betraying none of the adrenalin that must have been pumping through his veins. In contrast, I edged along the wall to cut off Lena's escape, heart pounding so hard that it could only be a matter of seconds before Lena heard the dull _tha-thump. _

'Oi, Perce.' Liam called pleasantly, 'come out here for a sec. Some chick wants your number.'

Lena stiffened in affront, and I continued to scrape along the wall behind her, wondering what Liam's plan was. So far he hadn't even looked at me and I had no idea what kind of shenanigans he was trying to pull off. Even if I escaped through the door, they'd be three cameras which would spot me before I made it up the ladder in time.

'That's odd,' Liam cocked his head in puzzlement when there was no reply from the bathroom, 'he must have fallen asleep.'

Lena reached for her sword, 'don't play games with me, Greek.'

In my haste to get into position, I didn't watch my feet. I hit one of the legs of Percy's bunk with a muffled _clang. _Lena turned on instinct, eyes widening as she caught sight of me, but that turned out to be her undoing.

Liam jumped her before she'd even pulled out her sword halfway. Wrenching the _pugio _from her waist, he spun her off balance and held the blade up to her throat before she could jerk away. With his left, he pulled out her communicator and flicked the mute button.

'Now then,' Liam murmured in her ear with deadly menace, 'you're going to do _exactly _as I say unless you want your throat ripped out.'

I gulped at the words, even though they weren't directed at me.

Lena, safely enclosed in Liam's much bigger frame, didn't really have a choice in the matter and nodded, her pupils dilated in fear.

Liam motioned at me to draw redraw an arrow, and clipped the communicator back into Lena's ear.

'Tell Webber that Percy's right here and there's no cause for alarm,' he instructed, sliding the cold edge of the _pugio _up her throat in a lethal caress, 'and if you try and warn him, Frank's going to put an arrow in your stomach. You'll bleed out for _hours_ before you die.'

_Nice of you to ask Frank if he's comfortable with that, _I repositioned my aim sourly. Liam's methods were really not to my taste. I wondered where Percy had reached. If only he could get Annabeth out of harm's way, there would be no arrows in stomachs or _pugio's _ripping out throats.

Lena cleared her throat as best as she could with the kiss of death inches away. 'Roamer Three to Command. Reporting in.'

The communicator squawked.

'Jackson is in his cabin, Captain. I repeat, Jackson is in his cabin.'

The answering reply took several seconds, and when they came, I imagined a hint of disapproval in the tinny voice. Liam, with his head pressed to Lena's ear listened to the instructions with rapt attention, while I hung about uselessly, arrow nocked, but pointing to the floor. My heart really wasn't in it.

'Excellent,' Liam breathed, palming the communicator to tap the mute button down once the Bridge's commands had finished. 'Frank—are you ready?'

I hesitated. 'Er... we're not killing her are we?'

Liam rolled his eyes. 'Not yet... though if she tries anything—'

'—we put an arrow in her stomach.' I finished hurriedly, not wanting to dwell on the thought. 'What's the plan?'

Lena stiffened her shoulders as though preparing to throw Liam off, but his knife returned to her throat, politely discouraging such attempts. If only she could have seen the hidden madness in the depths of his twinkling eyes, she wouldn't have even _thought _of resisting.

'Here's what's going to happen,' Liam said silkily in her ear, 'and if you cooperate you might just survive the coming hour.'

Lena didn't reply.

_Please listen to him, _I hoped, more for her sake than anything else. We had one plan in motion to rescue Annabeth, but nothing to stop Liam from slitting Lena's throat. I had a feeling that Liam would've killed her already, if it hadn't been for her usefulness.

Liam shifted forward, forcing Lena to stumble a few steps. 'You're one of the Vulcan kids, aren't you?'

'Yes.' Lena said through gritted teeth, the _pugio _pressed into her skin to help answer.

'Perfect.' Liam's grin turned feral at the edges. 'And in your professional Vulcan opinion, how're the ship's engines doing?'

I frowned in confusion at the abrupt turnabout, and in front, Lena mirrored the action.

'The engines are fine—'

She cut off with a yelp, and a thin line of blood snaked down her throat.

'I _said_,' Liam continued pleasantly, 'how are the engines doing? In _your _opinion?'

Several seconds of silence followed. I could almost hear the wheels turning in Lena's brain, but she like me, couldn't see further than the obvious step. I suddenly wondered if Liam was purposely keeping me in the dark, just because I too was a Roman.

'The engines might be unstable,' Lena said finally.

'Indeed.' Liam smiled, an empty twist of his lips, 'they might be under a terrible load. What with all the power they're generating—particularly the electrical output.'

A dim light went off in the back of my head. Similarly, Lena seemed to grasp a few more straws of the proffered broomstick.

'The electrical output isn't sourced from the engines,' she said in a mild tone, 'but since you're asking for _my _opinion—'

'I am.'

'—then I would say, yes, it definitely needs to be looked at.'

Liam shifted the edge of her blade against her throat. 'Some people might even say the load needs to be relived _immediately _or the engines will shut down.'

'Some people might.' Lena agreed.

'People like you, perhaps?' Liam tipped the point of the knife under chin, poised to slice through her lower jaw and into her skull with the smallest of twists.

Lena hesitated for the briefest of moments, but with death _literally _under her nose she didn't have much room to manoeuvre. Her shoulders hunched in defeat.

'I suppose.'

'Excellent,' Liam smiled wider than ever, clipping the communicator back to her ear, 'and being the good solider you are, you should inform your Captain of these serious developments at _once_.'

Lena met my eyes and I saw the sharp hint of terror in her otherwise stubborn gaze. What would Liam do to her as soon as she was not needed? I resolved to keep her alive—and tried to communicate as much. Whether she understood or not remained unclear, because with another gentle prod from the edge of Liam's weapon, she began the start of the ruse.

'Roamer Three to Command. Reporting in.'

The light on the communicator went off and a single squawk responded.

'Command, I have unsettling news,' Lena began, as Liam relieved her of the short sword with one hand, holding her tight with the other. He tossed me the sword and I strapped it on, readjusting the loops to fit my waist. What good the sword would do, in the close quarters of the Bridge, outnumbered three to one, and with the very real possibility of hitting a friend by mistake, I didn't know. Then again, Liam's expression wasn't inviting any questions.

Meanwhile Lena had finished her spiel about the load on the engines and how counter measures had to be taken immediately. On one hand, I couldn't help but be impressed by how quickly Liam had come up with a plan, on the other, it didn't matter if the first stage worked; the second was the one where we'd get pummelled. Hadn't he only _just_ made fun of me for wanting to storm the Bridge? And here he was, going to attempt it with just the two of us.

Several questions spurned forth from the communicator, which Lena answered with remarkable confidence. Something about the cold edge of Imperial Gold at your jugular makes one revaluate your priorities pretty quick, I've found.

I wondered, if in the next ten minutes, I was going to get that opportunity. Anthony Webber wasn't the forgiving sort. He'd lop off my head faster than I would be able to say "oops, my bad," which I didn't plan on doing anyway. Still, we _would_ have the element of surprise when we barged in on his evil plans. That much at least I had to attribute to Liam.

'Yes sir,' Lena was finishing off, 'I'll be done quickly.' Instead she clicked off and hit the mute button before Liam had the chance to.

'He's not buying it,' she said brusquely.

I had a moment of inane stupidity. 'Who's not?'

Lena shot me a look of withering disdain. 'Captain Webber. He heard me out, but he's not going for it. I can tell.'

Liam's eyes were like blue pick axes. He shifted his grip on the handle of the knife. 'If you tipped him off—'

'I haven't,' Lena controlled the fear in her voice even as the blade travelled down the curve of her throat, 'I did _exactly _as you said! But he's smart. I think he suspects something's wrong.'

'Then make him un-suspect.' Liam said.

'I don't know how—'

'Do you think I'm playing a game?' Liam demanded, tightening his grip on her. 'I will kill you and dump your body in the ocean without a second thought. If you want to live... prove your worth.'

I licked my lips as the tension in the room rose. Romans were famous for breaking before bending. If Lena refused... _Percy, _I projected the thought upwards, hoping it would somehow reach him, _now's a good time to assault the Bridge. _

'Maybe if he sees me panicking...' Lena let the suggestion hang for several moments, 'maybe _then_ he'll think the threat is genuine.'

Liam's dangerous smile twisted into a sneer. 'If you think I'm going to let you _walk _to the Bridge...'

'The cameras.' I said, as a sudden, wonderful thought occurred to me. 'We can use them to our advantage. Webber can see Lena through them and know she's not under duress or anything.'

Liam mulled it over. I eyed Lena, trying my best to tell her to not do anything stupid. I could only protect her so much and besides, Liam was right—this wasn't a game. Anthony Webber had seen to that.

'Fine,' Liam said at last, loosening his hold on Lena's arm and leaving an angry red bruise in its place. 'Fine. You, girl, will walk out of the door and stand in the camera's arc. Re-contact the Bridge if you have to.' He prodded Lena in the back with the hilt of the stolen _pugio _to emphasise his control_. _'Frank, come here.'

Obedient as ever, I crossed the cabin.

'The girl stays within sight of us at all times. Right outside the door, yes?' Liam sent the words my way, but the intended threat was for another.

Lena nodded stiffly.

'Good.' Liam grasped my shoulder and pulled me directly opposite the open door, right behind Lena. 'And if she tries to run or warn the Bridge—Frank, you know what to do.'

I met Lena's gaze. _No mercy, _I told her silently, _you forfeited that right the moment you mutinied. _

I nocked my arrow and pulled the wire back, aiming for the bottom right of Lena's back. 'I know what to do,' I said heavily, as Liam finally removed the blade from Lena's throat and gestured her to get on with it, 'I'll put an arrow through her if she runs.'

Somewhere, far above me, Mars was grinning with delight.

* * *

Even with my arrow a millisecond away from being loosened, and Liam waiting by the door, one of his swords in hand, it was still a huge risk to let Lena walk out and make contact with the Bridge. One word from her and the Bridge would know, not only about Liam's plan but _also _about Percy's absence. Lena would be dead, sure, but the Bridge would know.

It was no wonder that Liam's expression turned out to be a cross between an extremely peeved kitten and an altogether tetchy cobra.

Meanwhile, Lena had stepped out of the door, and turned sideways, so that she presented her nice, whole, self to the camera a few feet in front of her. Doing so made her a much smaller target for me, but I was confident of my abilities. What I wasn't confident of, was actually killing her. _Taking the life of another human, _I shuddered at the thought, _Percy, wherever you are, please hurry. _

Lena began her speech again, beseeching the Bridge to shut down operations immediately.

Liam waited, hunched behind the door way, poised to move. Looking at him I had no doubt that _he _would kill her and several others if they got in his way. He'd done it before too, I could tell by the utter mercilessness of his demeanour. Romans especially, for whatever reasons, were the lowest on his "people I give about" list.

And yet, one had to wonder. How does one go from the "harbinger of Rome" to its most hated enemy? Unless the poem wasn't about him. But that wouldn't explain the way he'd reacted when I accused him of being Roman...

'...we need to shut the ship down for a few minutes,' Lena continued, 'I am convinced that the engines need monitoring. Who knows what that Greek might have done to them?'

I assumed the Greek she was referring to, was Leo. Smart move on her part. When you want to tell a lie; build on the truth. But it also doesn't hurt to use your enemy's own paranoia against him.

'...we're looking at a complete meltdown of circuits,' Lena said (she was really at it, wasn't she?) 'and that might render the ship immobile. We'd be at the mercy of the ocean and its irritable god!'

_The irritable god happens to be my ancestor, _I thought to myself, a tad dreamily, before remembering that any moment now, things were about to get interesting. Hastily, I pictured the corridor outside. Two guards at one end, assigned there to make sure the Greeks in the cabins didn't start making a noise. Plus Lena directly opposite. We'd have to get all three before heading to the Bridge. Surprise was the key.

I tried to say as much to Liam but he wasn't paying any attention to me. I would've waved at him, but my arms were wholly occupied with pointing the wretched arrow to Lena's profile.

'Get Pique on comm.,' Lena said, with outstanding confidence, for someone who was pulling absolute nonsense out her hat, 'he'll be able to confirm and if—'

The lights in the cabin flickered off.

From the moment of stunned silence that passed, even Lena hadn't been prepared for it. By contrast, Liam pounced, slamming her into Piper's cabin door opposite, and making for the ladder leading to the Bridge. I dropped my bow and quiver and bounded after him, reaching down next to Lena's prone form and frantically searching for the one thing that would tip the odds in our favour—the master keycard.

The corridor, rid of the pale blue illumination from the overhead lights, lay darkened, only one patch sliced by sunlight, spilling from the porthole in Percy's open cabin. Using that, I blinked rapidly, trying to get my eyes used to the change and pulled with increasing urgency at Lena's jean pockets.

'Aha!' I retrieved the plastic, swivelled on my feet and tore down the hall. I had exactly twenty seconds before the emergency power kicked in and the cameras came back on. And a _lot _had to be accomplished in it.

At the end of the corridor, Eric and Larry appeared, weapons drawn in response to the confrontation they'd heard. By sheer coincidence, they gathered outside Jason's cabin. Using the darkness to my advantage, I bowled into them, sending a clatter of armour and legs into each other. Even as they struggled to disentangle themselves I swiped the card into the doorhold—

And nothing happened.

The power was still off. _How could I have been so stupid?! _Cursing, and very aware that Larry had found his weapon and was twisting to meet me, I retreated to the other end of the corridor, grabbed him by the scruff of the shirt and launched both of us into the cabin door.

An agonized creak later, and the wood buckled, spilling both of us pell-mell into Jason's cabin. Poor Larry had no idea what was happening, and using that to my advantage, I wrestled his sword away from him, and tossed it to an equally bemused Jason.

(Who btw, looked like he had a broken nose?)

'We're storming the Bridge!' I said by way of explanation, 'Liam's already there!'

Jason answered by punching Larry full in the face. Larry crumpled, spraying blood everywhere. I chucked the stolen keycard to a rather astonished Piper Mclean.

'Free the others,' I said as the lights flickered on and Jason stepped outside to intercede with Eric, 'and get them up to the Bridge. We're fighting!'

I didn't wait for Piper's acknowledgement. Jason was already several feet down the corridor, having abandoned a doubled up Eric on the spot outside his cabin. I hopped over Eric (hitting his ribs with the heel of my foot _entirely _by mistake) and followed Jason, pulling out my sword and discarding the scabbard to prevent tripping over it.

We made it up the ladder in record time. Still, our speed didn't make much of a difference. The emergency lights—and thus the cameras—were back on. We were probably seen coming a mile off.

As Jason and I rounded the corner to the Bridge, someone (I would later identify him as Chris from the broken wrist) came flying through the open door, smacked the wall opposite, arms outstretched, and collapsed on the floor, groaning piteously.

Jason and I exchanged a wary glance.

And then we went in.

A word on the dimensions of the Bridge: it's large in a long, narrow sort of way. Roomy enough to entertain eight people, full strength, during a GQ. At a pinch, it could take on three or four more. What it wasn't built to do, however, was become a battleground for thirteen vicious demigods, and one hostage.

The first thing I noticed when I entered, was that one pane of the front screen had been smashed apart. The second thing I noticed was the flying fist coming my way. I ducked, pivoted around and tripped over one of the roller chairs, falling face-first into the banks of monitors. The screens protested under my weight—but held.

From my vantage point, I got a better view of the battle. The demigods were, more or less, fighting anything that moved. In such close quarters, any hint of motion was an enemy. Fortunately all of them had better sense to draw a weapon, and fists and legs were flying in all directions.

Carlos threw a punch at Jason, missed when he sidestepped, and instead caught Matthew in the jaw. Matthew went arcing backwards, knocked into Liam and together, both of them fell into Pique, breaking the roller chair they landed on into several parts.

Somewhere in the midst of all this, I saw Percy, wild eyed and dishevelled, holding off the barrage of blows coming from Hank and Anthony. Head ringing from the fall –and the sheer _noise_ of the fight– I turned my head, just in time to see Max attempting to clamber in painfully through the broken window.

So _he_ was the lucky fellow who'd been thrown through it.

Liam had probably been the one to execute that particular move. Feeling generous, I merely pushed Max back out (hoping he wouldn't fall three stories below, and instead had the sense to grab on to one of the supports) before returning to the chaos on the Bridge.

Picking up my dropped sword, I used the hilt to catch Kaya in the solar plexus as she bore down on me. Huffing, she collapsed, temporarily winded. Meanwhile Liam had shrugged off Matthew and Pique, and Percy had sent Hank out of window he's broken upon entering. Jason kneed Carlos between the legs and he fell in a matter of seconds.

Anthony, Naomi and Jessica held together in a tight knot, but with the four of us bearing down on them from different directions, their mettle was sorely tested.

Credit to the girls though: they came guns blazing.

In fact, I was marginally thankful neither of them targeted me. Jess went for Liam and he swiped her aside easily, using the flat of his now unsheathed blade to rap against her head. Jason, much more practically, dodged Naomi's fist again and simply tripped her, to send her sprawling into Matthew who'd been on the verge of getting to their feet.

Neither of them tried to rise again.

But in the confusion, Anthony acted quickly, lashing out and pulling Annabeth to her feet, slashing the bonds tying her to the Captain's chair with his _pugio._

'Don't move!' He roared, spinning both of them around, as he tried to keep all four of us in sight at once. 'Nobody moves—or she dies!'

We froze. Panting, and with blood dribbling from his mouth, Webber looked mad, and there was nothing funny about the gold blade pressing into Annabeth's throat. With his back against the wall, he was a cornered beast, and ready to lash out at a moment's notice.

'Let her go Anthony,' Jason said calmly (a marked difference from Percy who seemed just about ready to rip Webber apart,) 'you've lost. There's no way out.'

'Isn't there?' Webber sneered, his eyes darting over all of us crazily, 'I'll be the judge of that! You—Greek, drop your weapon. All of you, drop your weapons!'

I hesitated.

'Drop them!' Webber shouted, pressing the _pugio _in, causing Annabeth to wince. 'Or I'll kill her! I'll do it right here, in front of you all!'

The sword slipped from my grasp and Liam tossed his blade down. Jason who'd lost Larry's sword in the melee had nothing to offer, but Percy who'd drawn Riptide, threw it aside.

Webber smiled. 'Good, good. Martinez, get up!'

Jessica blinked groggily, as I desperately used the brief respite to come up with a plan. In a few seconds, the rest of the Romans would come back to their senses and the game would be up. There was no saying what Webber would do to us in retribution, but I had a feeling that it wouldn't be a pleasant reprimand. Something had to be done. The four of us could take Webber—weapon-less even—but injuring Annabeth in the process? That was out of the deal.

'Move Martinez,' Webber snarled, 'get the swords. That one's first!' He gestured to Liam and in doing do, made his mistake.

Webber, in his infinite folly, chose his knife holding hand to demonstrate, and gave Annabeth the opening she was waiting for. Even as his hand rose upward to point, Annabeth moved. She socked him in the stomach with an elbow, twisted his wrist to take his dagger, slammed the back of her head into his, and flipped him over her shoulder—right into the glass Ops table which had miraculously survived all the carnage so far.

The glass shattered on impact, driving a rain of fragments into Webber, turning his skin bloody with the thousands of small, sharp impacts. Annabeth, spun the _pugio _in her hand with ease, and clamped a solid shoe on Webber's grasping hand, crushing his fingers as he tried to go for the nearest sword.

Webber yelped and promptly desisted.

'Now,' Annabeth said in the blandest tone I'd ever heard, 'who still wants to mutiny?'

* * *

It took half an hour to set the ship to some sort of order once again. Piper arrived with reinforcements moments after Annabeth's little show, and Jason dispatched me and Malcolm to deal with the Romans. After a minute of discussion and a hasty game of rock-paper-scissors, we agreed to lock them up in the game room.

Webber, however, got the special treatment and we escorted him down to his cabin and contained him to his bed, using chains Liam gleefully supplied, upon his reunion with Barbie Prime.

By the time we'd wrestled Webber down, and taken the others one by one, the rest of the Greeks had been made aware of the situation and a cardboard cut out covered the missing pane of the front window. The other glass showed a green world map with a pulsating purple dot on it. Jason and Percy stood in front of it, conversing in grave tones.

Annabeth sat on one of the handles of the Captain's chair, busy tying up Liam's forearm, where the sleeve of his jacket had ridden up, and a pale red line showed up against his tan skin.

'Your pal Christopher got me good,' Liam said, gesturing, as I came to a stop near them.

I raised a disbelieving eyebrow. 'You threw him into a _wall_.'

'Pity that. I wanted to put him through the front window.'

'I think you did that to Max Keenan.'

'Did I?' Liam frowned, 'how odd. He's the only one I can stand out of all of them.'

I examined the crude cardboard being taped into place by Emily to stop the wind entering the Bridge, while Malcolm made a beeline for the bank of monitors.

'Annabeth,' he called over his shoulder, 'did you change the Command password?'

While Liam rolled his shoulders and feinted attacks at me, Annabeth cleaned her throat with quick, efficient strokes of nectar soaked gauze.

'No. Why?'

'Because the system's refusing to give me access.' Malcolm hit the screen to no avail. 'How am I supposed to change the course back, if it doesn't let me in?'

Jason overheard the last bit and scowled, breaking off from the conversation with Percy. 'We're _still_ heading for Camp Jupiter?'

'Yeah.' Malcolm hit the monitors again and cursed, 'it keeps saying "access denied." Stupid thing—I designed you!'

'I'll get Leo.' Jason said dryly.

Percy ambled over, and I pressed him for details about his end of the plan. Turns out, Webber had posted a guard on the entrance to the Top Deck, and had stymied Percy's efforts to get in without being seen. In the end, after dithering about for half an hour and close to panicking, a certain helpful distraction came along to make things easier. And the distraction transpired to be—

'A dolphin?' I repeated, fighting to keep a straight face. 'A dolphin helped you distract the sentry?'

'Yep,' Percy shrugged, 'put on a nice show for her and everything. Even did a couple of backflips. I slipped past the guard without a problem.'

'But a dolphin!' I shook my head, 'did it ask why?'

A wry grin crossed Percy's face. 'Most don't. They're usually really pleased to help me out.'

'What I want to know,' Liam cut across my repeated exclamation of "_dolphin_," 'is what it was called. Did it have a name?'

'He did,' Percy said in all seriousness, 'he said his friends call him Porkie.'

After the hoots of laughter had died down, I got the rest of the events. Just as Percy had crept up to the window to make his entrance, the lights went off. Seizing the chance, he'd broken in, and moments later Liam had hammered down the door. Between the both of them, they'd bought enough time for Jason and me to get there and turn the tide in our favour.

'You should've seen Webber's face,' Liam said in fond remembrance, 'I thought he was about to have a coronary.'

'Or break my hand.' Annabeth put in, killing the mood all together.

And yet, the anguished cry from the door, put to shame the severity of her tone. We all turned as Leo hobbled in, head still wrapped in bandages, leaning on a cane, his face the very picture of acute desolation.

A sharp, smug, burst of happiness warmed my insides.

'How...?' Leo struggled for words, taking in cardboard covering the gaping hole of the front window/screen and the glass Ops table. 'How did this happen?'

Jason edged around him, shooting the rest of us quick glances. 'Well... I told you there would be some damage—'

'Some damage?' I couldn't help but notice, like me, Leo's voice turned high pitched too. '_Some _damage? You broke... destroyed my...' he buried his face in his hands for a moment, 'my beautiful, beautiful Bridge. It'll never be the same again.'

Silence.

'We're sorry, man.' Percy offered.

Leo waved it away as he came to a stop next to the pile of glass that had once been the Ops table. 'Farewell Arnie,' his voice broken with emotion, 'you will be missed.'

'Arnie?' I repeated, ignoring Jason's shaking his head vigorously, 'you named your table _Arnie_?'

'It wasn't _just _a table,' Leo spat, so venomously, it had me backing away a couple of steps. 'It synced _everything_—my music, _Psych, _my inventions... you could order a pizza, fix a schematic of a building built 3000 years ago, and use partial differentiation to solve equations with Arnie!'

Leo put a trembling hand over his mouth and picked up a few glass fragments. 'And the best part? The circuitry was _inside _the glass. No trailing wires or hardware. All of it just...'

He dropped the glass with a sob, '...gone. It's all gone.'

This time, even I felt a pinprick of pity. From what I knew of Leo, he loved his machines dearly—clearly thinking of them as people, with all the names he bestowed upon them—and even I'd be annoyed if something I'd spent six months building something, only for it to turn into dust in an moment of carelessness.

Jason put a comforting hand on his shoulder. 'Leo, man, I promise we'll give erm—' he sent a quick glance at the powdered glass on the floor, '—Arnie, a proper farewell soon. But first we need you to reset our course. We're wasting time going in the wrong direction.'

Slowly, as though a man carrying a great burden, Leo turned away and took Malcolm's place at one of the consoles. I chanced a glance at Liam, and felt thankful to see the smirk on his face. He at least found it to be a huge overreaction as well.

A pitter-patter of footsteps later, and Piper joined our little meeting. She took one look at the Bridge, crossed over to squeeze Leo's shoulder in comfort, before turning to Jason to give her report.

'Except for Will, Butch and Mitchell, the rest of the Greeks are moving about. We've all armoured up, as you said.'

'Good.' Jason studied her for a long moment, then, 'is Mitchell okay?'

'He says he's fine,' Piper gave an irritated shrug; 'I don't know why he insisted on coming on this quest in the first place.'

Liam yawned exuberantly. 'Children of Aphrodite, always the hardest to control. And always the most useless in battle.'

Piper ignored him. 'Also, on your orders: Hazel, Dakota and Bobby are sweeping the ship in case Webber put in explosives... though why he'd do _that_, I can't imagine.'

'You don't understand Webber,' I said, despite myself, 'he's the perfect soldier. If he can't bend us to his will, he'll destroy us... and himself.'

Emily shuddered. 'That almost makes me wish he was working for Gaia.' She threw a doubtful look at her sister, 'you guys are sure...?'

'He isn't.' I cut in, a little annoyed. I'd entertained doubts too, until I'd remembered something obvious. Webber would never—not with the memory of Marcus' death hanging over him. 'He honestly believes this quest is doomed. He probably thinks he was saving all of us from the horrors of the ancient sea.'

Liam rubbed his chin thoughtfully, 'he's the worst kind if you ask me—'

'We didn't.' Piper muttered.

'—so obsessed with doing the _right _thing they forget their goals.' Liam didn't give any sign of hearing Piper's comment, and instead, fixed his glittering eyes on Jason.

Before Jason had a chance to reply, the door scraped open and Hazel entered, complete with helm, breastplate and cavalry sword. The latter she wore strapped to her back to avoid dragging on the ground as she walked. My heart did a little tumbledown when I saw her, and then multiplied when I noticed the relief in her eyes as they caught sight of me.

'Captain,' she saluted, 'we've checked the ship as well as we could. No sign of explosives.'

'Probably didn't have a chance to put them in,' Liam said, with ill grace, 'if he'd had a couple more hours, they'd be there all right.'

Piper rolled his eyes, but I couldn't help thinking Liam was right. By storming the Bridge so soon we'd put all his counter measures out of battle. Anthony Webber at full strength and well prepared was nigh impossible to beat. As seen in all the War Games. The only time the First Cohort had _lost _under his Centurionship when the wild cannon, Percy, had played against him.

'Anyway,' Jason rubbed his eyes tiredly, 'I think for now we can be sure Webber isn't—'

We never got to know what Webber wasn't capable of doing, because with a loud oath and several choice swears, Leo drowned out Jason's voice. Eyes livid, and firsts curled, he rounded on us.

'The Authorization code,' he said in biting tones, 'who changed it?'

Blank looks greeted his question. Malcolm shifted on his perch, the windowsill of the window Percy had broken.

'Uh, that's the whole point of you being here. I told you somebody had changed it.'

'Not the Command password,' Leo waved his hands irritably, leaning down to pull open a few cabinets under the main level of monitors, 'the Authorization Code. To _this._'

I followed his pointing finger and made out a vague cubicle shape, glowing blue in the darkness of wires and bolts.

Several more blank looks followed.

'Er...' I craned my neck, fascinated by the blinking blue, 'what is that?'

'Oh gods,' Hazel went so pale, she looked like she was about to faint, 'that's the separate brain!'

Nauseated, I stopped trying to get a better look of the thing. 'Excuse me?'

'What Hazel means,' Leo straightened up, 'is that is a separate OS all together. Designed to override the main one if necessary. But _someone's _changed the Authorization Code. I can't get in.'

My stomach began to sink a little.

'Don't look at me!' Malcolm seemed highly affronted when Leo glared at him, 'I didn't even know you'd built a separate OS!'

Leo turned. 'Annabeth?'

'No, Leo,' Annabeth said wearily, 'I haven't changed anything. And it's obvious who has.'

Nothing like Annabeth confirming your worst realization to make your stomach sink right to your socks, and possibly, out on the floorboards.

'Webber?' Leo said the word uncertainly, and then with more disbelief, 'how? He wouldn't have known it existed either! I didn't tell anyone and you found out on your own!' A moment of thought, Leo's eyes narrowed slightly, 'unless _you _told him?'

'Because Webber and I are BFFs aren't we?' Annabeth snapped. 'Don't be an idiot, Leo.'

But Leo wouldn't let it go. 'Then it doesn't explain how he found out!'

In the ringing silence that followed, we all heard Liam hushed tones, so at odds with the usual lazy drawl he spoke in.

'Oh dear.'

Nine pairs of eyes landed on him in an instant.

'Oh dear, dear.' Liam shook his head.

'What?' Leo said aggressively, 'what do you know?'

Liam leaned back in his roller chair (which incidentally was the last surviving one) and examined Leo with an expression of grave thoughtfulness. 'That day,' he said in measured tones, 'when I caught you and Hazel under the console. Did you guys talk about this... box?'

My attention skewed after the second sentence. 'You caught Leo and Hazel under the console? _What?_'

'Not now Frank.' Hazel whispered.

I glared at Leo, and noticed he's gone very still, head cocked to one side in remembrance. 'We did,' he admitted after a few seconds, 'I explained its function to her. But that doesn't mean—' he had to raise his voice over the others' voices, '—doesn't mean anything. We were alone!'

'See, I don't think you were.' Liam glanced around, 'remember how I came looking for you to collect my winnings?'

'Yeah, so?'

'I'd be hanging around in Bunker 9 and I saw Webber exiting the ship. When I caught up to him and demanded payment, he sent me to you. _Exactly _to your location. Which brings up the question...'

'...how did he know where you were?' Annabeth finished.

More silence. Leo and Hazel looked at each other, but aside from Leo's dawning realization I saw something else (guilt?) flood Hazel's face. What did _she _have to be guilty for? It was all Leo's fault we were in this mess. Him and her... under the consoles... in the darkness...

'That still doesn't explain how he got the Authorization Code to change it.' Leo said doggedly, 'he might have known about the box, but you need the past Code to change it to a new one.'

'Well, maybe you let it slip.' I said, entirely without any malice whatsoever.

Jason shot me an annoyed look. 'Not now, Frank.'

'It's possible—' I began, but Leo spoke over me.

'I didn't tell anyone the Code,' his black brows drew together in anger, 'and certainly not Webber. I'm not besties with him either, in case you haven't noticed.'

The unspoken words: _unlike you, because you're all Romans together _only served to further enrage me.

'Oh.' Liam said again, this time in an entirely different tone, from the last. 'Oh. Oops.'

Jason was the first to cotton on. 'What have you done?' He asked, in a low, dangerous tone. This, I thought, was a little unfair. How come nobody was getting mad at Leo? It was his damn box.

Uneasiness flashed in Liam's eyes. 'Calm down Grace. You act as though I sold your mother to the devil.'

That seemed to touch a raw nerve. Jason made a sudden, violent movement, but Piper and Leo both stepped in between to intercede. 'Jason, calm down,' Piper said, in clear, soothing tones, 'Liam's just about to explain himself... aren't you?' She scowled in his direction.

Liam rolled his shoulders, buying time. He turned his head to focus on Leo, preferring to speak to him out of all of us. 'Remember when I said I was... ah... hanging around Bunker 9?'

'Yes?' Leo drew out the word, 'what about it?'

'Okay... well, I might have been—I repeat,_ might _have been—erm,' Liam shifted uncomfortably, 'well, riffling through your workstation.'

Unlike Jason who was on the verge of a barrage of insults, Leo cut straight to the chase. That might (might!) have earned a little bit of grudging respect on my part.

'What did you take?'

'Nothing of importance I'm sure,' Liam said hastily, feeling the pressure coming down from Percy's end as well, 'just a little, itsy-bitsy scrap of paper.'

'A scrap of paper?' Leo repeated, and the resignation in his tone was for all to hear, 'did this scrap of paper have... a collection of numbers on it? Like say... an Authorization Code?'

I coughed in incredulity. 'You wrote down the single most important part of the ship on a random _piece of paper_?'

'Shut up Frank!' Jason and Hazel exclaimed together.

Then, when I'd successfully thrown both of them dirty looks (Hazel wilted a little in response,) Jason ignored me and centred his irate stare on Liam. 'Answer the question.'

Liam licked his lips. 'It er... might have. I didn't look too closely.'

'But it could have.'

'Could have, yeah.'

'Percentage wise, how sure are you?'

'Give or take a few points...' Liam ran a nervous hand through his hair, 'about ninety-nine percent sure.'

_Oh dear gods. _

I'm sure all of us had a dozen questions for Liam to answer, mostly centred around why he'd been snooping in the first place, but all of that faded into the background to deal with the still missing link.

'But that doesn't explain how Webber got it,' Percy said, eyeing Liam with undisguised suspicion, 'unless you gave it to him?'

Liam's customary haughtiness returned with full force. 'Me? To _Webber? _Honestly Perce—you wound me.'

_The harbinger of Rome, _I remembered, ill at ease. I had to tell the others about the poem and calculations I'd found. Just then, something else struck me.

'Barbie Prime,' I clapped my hand to my forehead at the obviousness, 'He took Barbie Prime from you. He must have figured out you'd have put the paper inside!'

Liam rubbed his chin. 'Come to think of it, he did see me, before I saw him.'

'So you say.' Piper snorted.

'So I say,' Liam agreed, but by now I'd spent enough time with him to recognize the hidden menace in his eyes. I'd have warned Piper, but she'd already turned away in disgust. Meanwhile Leo and Hazel were having a quick, silent conversation, and it was enough to sicken me so I turned away. Percy looked like Jason—angry, scared, and a little helpless. Emily and Malcolm kept shooting the box covert glances, as though they wanted to break it open and examine its secrets.

Annabeth just looked tired.

Finally, Jason brought himself to speak. 'So what does this mean for us? The ship? The quest?'

Leo broke off whatever he'd been saying to Hazel to answer the question. 'I can't get into either of the systems without the new Code. It's locked down tight. And that means our course is locked too. We're stuck.'

Percy shifted on his feet. 'Maybe one of the other Romans knows the new Code. We could... ask them.'

I wondered if "ask" was codename for "torture if they're uncooperative." Out of the mouth of a Roman, it would have made sense, but Percy being Percy... I had a hard time imagining it. And in any case:

'I don't think that'll work,' I said, glancing at Jason whose jaw was clenched in frustration. He knew what I was talking about. 'Webber planned for this. He would've kept his cards close.'

'So...' Leo ventured, 'let's go ask him?'

Jason gave a short, bark like laugh at that. There was nothing humorous about it. 'And what do you think are the chances of him telling us?'

'Like none,' Leo shrugged, 'maybe we could do it nicely.'

'Because nice always works on Webber,' I said in my snidest tone. This time neither Jason or Hazel reacted. Then again, we had bigger problems than me just being pissed off with Leo. Piper giggled suddenly, drawing surprised looks from all of us.

'Maybe nice won't work,' she said, grinning, 'but maybe charm will.'


End file.
